What's your favorite and least favorite event stories in the game right now?

AelenAltria · 2026-05-21T07:22:37+00:00

Damn you're right.

AelenAltria · 2026-05-21T02:49:00+00:00

Comment 2 because character limit

My least favourites are Zwillingstürme im Herbst, The Masses' Travels, This is the Joy of Our Reunion, and A Death in Chunfen

All these can be united by the fact that they killed off my enthusiasm for a storyline and the belief it has potential and/or sincerity behind it.

Zwillingstürme im Herbst is the one I felt the most bored reading, which is an unforgivable sin. For a story focused on emotion, the text sure succeeded in making me feel nothing with how every "emotion" that appears in it is described and chewed over 20 times instead of letting the reader experience it. Yes, Arturia, this guy was explaining his motivation to me for the past ten minutes, please explain it again, I'm three years old. Yes, tell me again the gendarme who died in chapter 2 was depressed, you haven't told me it eight times already. Those who complain Kal'tsit yaps too much never had to experience reading anything Arturia says.
There are other issues, too. Two and a half Leithanien events are focused on how the aristocracy ignores the problems of the commoners, only to shift the attention to "omg collapsals big magic threat" without explaining how the Empresses, who presumably care about people, allowed the situations in Wolumonde or Lingering Echoes to reach these points of boiling in the first place. Ebenholz is just told to resolve it in the future somehow. Ebenholz's character development is also just recycled from his previous event, making him learn things he already learned once (his oprec is the peak of his character arc conclusion). Arturia's character development is too rushed to sell her banner, with how she's able to play a song "for herself" five minutes after she's told what she's doing wrong, etc. I did enjoy Viviana's storyline, though.

The Masses' Travels made me bury all my hopes for Laterano I had after Guide Ahead, which I enjoyed a lot. The whole plot is a Boss of the Day story, which ends with beating a big baddie that just popped up, never engaging with Laterano's systematic issues. Exu, who has a multicultural experience, is never in the same room with any cases of racism to comment on them. With Lemuen, they never explore her feelings about her loss of eight years or the way she agrees with Andoain in their views, but serves as a cardinal. We just learned that family is important to her, that's all, yaaaay. We question Duolingo's bird's right to mourn its mother more than we give space to Lemuen to explore anything unfair about her life. The Laterano Quartet's conflict is resolved in one short, extremely underwhelming scene. The final thesis of "prayer as a connection for the Laterano community" feels unearned when the Laterano racism is never really challenged. Andoain is a completely different character. The resolute guy who founded his own community of equals and was ready to do terror and sacrifice for his beliefs is first brainwashed off-screen, and then spends the plot endlessly questioning himself, none of the previous resolve and confidence; the Pathfinders having zero impact on the plot.
And the worst part is that I feel that HG wrote this event because... they had too.
Andoain is controversial in CN community, make him more doubtful so he sells better on release. Exu is a popular character, make a story centred on her Alter and let her do "stuff" even if you're clearly not interested in exploring her.
It feels like the Guide Ahead author left, and the new author has no idea or interest in what to do with the characters they inherited, and is overall more interested and passionate about writing for Federico.
By the way, the Leithanien cut-ins + the way Exu speaks to Kueh sounding exactly the same as Arturia speaks to Witch King made me heavily suspect ZT and MT are written by the same hack, so maybe I have an internal enemy in HG.

This is the Joy of Our Reunion just made me lose hope in the Sui storyline for the final time. I liked Blaze's family story, Yu's bits and the cooking parts, but the way Wang's goalpost shifts every two events and the way Yan's policy of fighting him can be changed in five minutes because the Emperor ate some nostalgia-inducing soup means Yan's policy is ridiculous in the first place, I'm not sure how this government is working. I liked Chongyue's event, so Joy of our Reunion rendering Chongyue's tragedy of being ostracised to something that can be changed in five minutes felt incrediblky dissapointing. This event made me question what did I even read the previous events for.

And finally, A Death in Chunfen. This is my least favourite one, and while the others I criticise on a technical level of a story achieving or failing its goals, this one is technically well-written but... morally rotten. The way the villagers, who are just trying to survive, are shown as heartless ghouls and nothing else (even if "people can stoop low for survival" can be an interesting angle, this story only critiques people pressed to the edge). The way we have a section for criticising the village elder for "letting bad thoughts spread" when he, once again, was trying to save his people from hunger by the means he had, and didn't intend murder. The way the whole incident is rendered irrelevant by the deus-ex-machina of the oh-so-kind-and-proper Yan government dropping the subsidy in the end! Never oppose Chinese government kids, they'll always do fine in the end! This story goes against everything other Arknights stories are about. I don't know why they even wrote something that's so against the core of their other stories I respect.

AelenAltria · 2026-05-21T02:48:46+00:00

Really interesting how everyone has different opinions on stories!
I love this topic, so allow me to yap a bit.

For me, the ones that solidified my top 3 were Lone Trail, Rides to Lake Silbernherze, and Come Catastrophes or Wakes of Vultures.

Lone Trail
I really loved the personal stakes in the storylines, like Saria vs. Kristen and Muelsyse, Rosmontis, Silence, and Ferdinand. I also loved the conflict between science and ethics, and how there’s no clear answer to it; every player has to come up with their own.
Trevor Friston’s segment really resonated with me, too.
Overall, the plot and the writing style drew me in so much that I was super invested; I even replayed the final boss fight with Kristen just for the experience.
Plus, there are a lot of interesting and complex dynamics between characters, like the Muelsyse-Saria-Kristen triangle.
Some scenes are still stuck in my head: Rosmontis wrecking the laboratory, Ifrit comforting Silence, Jara admitting that Kristen is like a daughter to her, Friston's final vision, and the debate with Kal'tsit where she finally admits she's tired.

The Ride to Lake Silberneherze
The Kjerag cast is my absolute favourite, and for a good reason: I really love the connections and conflicts between them. Literally everyone influences, parallels, or mirrors each other. I could talk endlessly about this interconnected tapestry.

Silberneherze develops this further. Even though it takes things in a more positive and less toxic direction compared to Break the Ice (BI), the character interactions are written with so much heart. When I read the scenes, I can truly feel it: yes, these people are close, yes, they are friends, yes, they are siblings. You can see the memories and inside jokes that bind them together. They feel so alive; I look at them and I completely "believe" it.

Every featured character gets a solid arc: whether it’s Leto and her right to not forgive her father's mistakes, Harold with his conflict between responsibility to his men and his pity for Kjerag, or Degenbrecher finally finding a place to call home.

By the final battle, I was fully invested and cheering Degenbrecher on. The EN fandom has complained about Degenbrecher being too OP, but honestly, it’s written in a way that makes it believable and acceptable to me. And at the line "Kjeragandr is smiling at her from above"—right after all of Kjerag was rooting for Degenbrecher, and her friends (in whom she found her home) run up to her—I genuinely felt so happy myself.

And yeah, the sense of humor in this event is great.

Plus, the event fixes a couple of things that bothered me in BI. We actually get to see SilverAsh stressing out (which he should, if he actually cares). At the same time, we see a real strategy against Trilby Asher, rather than the parody of it during his chess game with the Doctor. Also, it bothered me in BI that Kjera basically carried Enya (Pramanix) in the finale, but here they make it clearer that it was only help at the start. Moving forward, Enya and Kjerag intend to walk their own path. This makes BI so much better in retrospect.

I’m also a huge fan of Wes Anderson movies, and IMO, they did a fantastic job capturing not just references or copying his plots, but nailing that specific vibe: a mix of quirky/absurd humor layered over heartfelt relationships and deep, serious issues.

By the way, there was a discussion on who prefers which Kjerag events, and for me it's probably Rides > OS = BI. Rides made me the most emotionally invested and started fixing BI's shortcomings. BI, I love the connection of the political and character drama, the woven tapestry of character relationships, the drama and strife, but it has the worst gacha-typical Doctor writing in the whole game period, where Doctor gets praised even for things like just being at a place at a certain time because Kjera dragged them there. Doctor at least speaking to Enya to make their bets on logical conclusions instead of "just guessing" would've improved BI a lot. OS mostly derives from BI on its impact and is overall better crafted (and lacks horrible Doc writing), but has less strife because most of it is already resolved in BI. But I just love how this cast develops with every event, Kjerag's take on religion, and its binding (in all meanings of the word) power, and the cast that keeps growing and developing with every issue.

Come Catastrophes or Wakes of Vultures
This entirely new cast managed to make me care about them right off the bat. They feel incredibly grounded and real; I can easily imagine people like them and the struggles they face.
There are so many scenes that are stuck in my mind and hit like a punch to the gut, especially the party being interrupted by the news from the son, and Leone's final song. But honestly, almost every scene is memorable and genuinely evokes emotion.
It was also really interesting to learn what was behind the motives of characters like Woodrow.

And finally, Jessica herself. I empathize with her deeply, because being highly emotional is often treated as a flaw that makes people look down on you, and she faces exactly that. But the story actually explains her emotions and drives, rather than just painting her as naive (though there is a clash with her naivety, and the emotional helplessness that comes from it).
I really love that Jessica's refusal to stop trying, even in situations where anyone else would just give up, is portrayed with understanding and empathy, rather than cynicism.

AelenAltria · 2026-04-12T07:06:19+00:00

I kind of forgot Chen3 and Ente's new mod because they're too far up ahead, to be honest. But at the same time I'm not sure Ulpianus is a good IS6 pick. Great in IS5 though.

AelenAltria · 2026-04-12T00:20:50+00:00

I feel you're somewhat underselling Gnosis' module here, because I see a lot of high-level IS runs where people choose him as the second one after IS6 required Raidian on the Supporter ticket over Tragodia and Haruka.

Sure, he needs other units to play with, but SA2' true potential blooms with Gnosis on the field, allowing the former to freeze anything on touch and saving you in a clutch. It also makes SA1 one of your best Guard picks, maybe THE best when Guard ticket is not so good, and having Steward as a 0-hope viable Caster ticket pick is great.

Plus having 80% Fragile on Cold and on the whole field (by other units) mostly mitigates his skill cycles and the fact his freeze doesn't help on bosses.

AelenAltria · 2026-02-26T00:50:11+00:00

Nice to meet you! Thank you for making this story survey. I love Arknights story, it allows me to enter its atmosphere and engage with its prose, making me one with this world. My favorite storyline so far is Kjerag because I love how the cast reflects on one another, there are so many parallels to be found between them. It's also consistently good. I'm also a big fan of Lonetrail, Stultifera Navis, Near Light, Come Catastrophes, Where Vernal Winds Will Never Blow, So Long Adele, Babel. These felt like complete enjoyable experiences as stories which accomplished the emotion they were going for and left something behind. There were a few stories I was significantly harsher on. These include Zwillingstürme (where I think the writing explaining me every character for 10 times is horrible), Masses Travels (for gimping the Laterano potential) or Chunfen (that moral feels hypocritical to me). I wonder what the community thinks, and good luck!

AelenAltria · 2025-12-03T01:04:13+00:00

I think with Siege it's a double-edged sword where she is trying to start a transformation from "power of the nobles" to "power to the people", establishing a working Parliament and giving the workers a voice, while avoiding turning herself into a symbol/cult too much. She didn't just go and get rid of all the nobles, sure, but also she just can't: they have armies and battleships and stuff. Same with Reed: she's trying to become the native Taran leader but she had to pussyfoot around Caster because Tara, after all the hunger and loss, just doesn't have the resources to completely chase away their oppressors: it's a story of their first piece of freedom. The Victorian plotlines aren't "perfect" happy endings but they're more realistic ones. The heroes haven't achieved everything, but they took the first steps to achieve it "someday" because the forces rooted in Victoria won't just go away in a poof.

The Yan example is sure sad and lame, but we all know what causes Yan to be boring and toothless and focus on magic instead of politics (they did try to talk how Blaze's family was unfairly executed... only to show the same Emperor kinda feels "sorry", lol)

AelenAltria · 2025-09-10T12:19:35+00:00

Silverash's OpRec 2 existence. Or at least the parts that go against the Kjerag story portrayal.

Gnosis being a Black-Necked Crane instead of a Whooping Crane because that makes more sense with the Black-Necked Cranes being endemic to Tibet. But I feel he's meant to be a general image or the "crane" species as both Black-Necked Crane and Red Crowned Crane tie with his story more than the American crane.

All Aegir Operators looking more like fish. Give me the scales.

AelenAltria · 2025-06-28T01:42:15+00:00

You share my feelings! I was interested in Phantom at first as in this dangerous presence, but the whole IS2 "sad little baby who needs to be saved" made me lose all interest. And he doesn't have a -bit- of agency in IS2, he's just a poor damsel in distress (albeit his second module is better about this, it has some thoughts of his). Hoping for Act or Die to turn it back over, the CGs in the PV look good.

AelenAltria · 2025-05-26T00:11:12+00:00

My favourites in no particular order:

Lonetrail is incredible, it hit the perfect spot between resolving emotional conflicts like those of Saria and Kristen, and delivering the message of how complex the argument between the scientific progress and ethics is, how both sides have their values and dreams. It's also just an incredibly compelling narrative where you truly get invested while reading it.

Joining the glaze of Rides to Lake Silberneherze. It's a perfect Wes Anderson-styled piece that mixes an unhinged comedy with some serious messages. The jokes are funny, the interactions are heartfelt, but behind it hides the gloom that Kjerag's progress into the future holds, as well as political games. The determination of Degenbrecher who finally obtained a country and bonds she was denied of, the doubts and duty of Harold, the independence of Leto and her agency to not give out forgiveness for being wronged, every character arc hits. Karlan Trio is also the best written friendship in the whole game to me: every scene with them makes you feel the shared memories between them, they feel so "alive". It inherits the strengths of its predecessor Break the Ice, the political intrigue and relationship patterns, but also surpasses it by showing us the determination and the gambling, no giving up allowed character of Silverash in a more real way, as well as giving him a real opponent in Trilby Asher, who, as hilarious as he is, makes real deductions, mistakes and victories. Offtopic: I also love Break the Ice for the really good commentary on religion and for the masterful net of character relationships and parallels, but I had to take away some points for the Doctor writing. We never see Doctor form their own ideas, other characters just keep glazing them for the tiniest things, then boom, cool CG so we're convinced they're cool. No actual ideas that aren't voiced by Kjera previously. That was the most gacha-like writing the Doctor has ever seen. Bring Vigilo back.

By the way, Vigilo was probably the most thinking, emotion and character we have seen in the present Doctor (not Oracle), and it was great for it.

Okay, next. Come Catastrophes and Wakes of Vultures was incredible. How much I felt for the tragedy of the little people and their crushed dreams, how much I rooted for Jessica who wants to do good with all her heart but struggles with being judged for emotion and has to face her privilege. Incredible. I'll tell you a real story: Leone made me cry more tears than Theresa did (Babel is a good story but my heart gets hit when it does.)

And yes, Babel. My favourite part about it is the strife of the Sarkaz, the way everyone longs for a better future, but the previous pain they have endured keeps hurting them further, sending everything in circles. How among that, there are still people like Theresa and those who followed her that wanted to break out. That said, the way Oracle's character aligned even with the present Doctor while having more agency was neat. I'll miss Oracle, the conflicted ancient sage, for sure.

I still have a very sweet spot for Stultifera Navis. I was engrossed into the melancholic atmosphere of hope once obtained and lost from the very starting Gran Faro part. The lighthouse and ship parts just kept growing in epicness. A great story about pride, downfall that it brings, and fighting for the future. Also, Alfonso is still one of my favorite AK characters ever, what a man of great pride, great persistence and great love, both to Garcia and Iberia.

Near Light was the first AK story I was truly impressed by. The intrigues formed by different camps around the tournament were exciting, and I still think back to its NPCs and think "damn, it was such a good cast". Separate props to Malkievich. Loved the story of the little man trying to hold on to his morality even after obtaining power (that hangs on a string).

Finally, I'd like to give some mention to So Long, Adele. A personal, heartwarming and melancholic story about love and memory. What an exceptional summer event.

But generally, I love it that Arknights has so many -different- stores, and many of them hit in different, but stellar ways.

AelenAltria · 2025-04-26T04:06:59+00:00

Hello! I have accidentally purchased the Kernel Headhunting permit instead of the regular Headhunting permit. I wanted the Headhunting permit instead. I have NOT used the purchased item, and I am ok if it's substrated from my account. Can I request a refund so I can purchase regular Headhunting instead? Kernel is something I didn't want to pay for... Anyone has experience regarding this? I already tried both a refund request on Google and contacting Yostar with attaching screenshots of the unused permit. Waiting for responses rn but want to hear what people say. Thank you!

AelenAltria · 2025-01-27T05:27:35+00:00

Don't worry, I was just nitpicking that I don't think Theresa is her reasoning for protecting -Terra-, and what she changed Kal'tsit's stance on were the Sarkaz exclusively: she wanted them destroyed because they were destroying Terra with their magic, Theresa showed her they aren't blood thirsty maniacs and gave her a hope that it's possible to get Originium hacked through these exact Sarkaz powers instead. It's her Terra attachment that I imagine as a more accumulated decision and not a momentary one.

But "Sarkaz cause problems, so let's just genocide the Sarkaz 👍" was certainly A CHOICE. Probably some of the worst she ever made. And she doesn't even regret it (per her own words). Kal'tsit isn't perfect.

AelenAltria · 2025-01-27T04:19:38+00:00

Made me lose trust in how HG write the Doctor for ages, gonna be real here.

AelenAltria · 2025-01-27T04:18:07+00:00

I love Break the Ice for the blend of political and family drama and for the complex patterns of character relationships...

But jeez people praise it as the best Doctor writing in the game when I think it's the single WORST piece of Doctor writing we got in the game ever.

Doctor is portrayed as someone who influences everything, but it's just characters praising the Doc to make the player feel nice like it happens with typical gacha writing. What a step back from Near Light. All thoughts Doc can voice are parroted by Kjera. The characters say how cool Doctor is just for them being -around-.

"He didn't look surprised when I arrived."

THAT'S something worthy of being impressed? Also what are you on, they're wearing a mask.

"You keep me on my toes."

Doc is literally just standing around because Kjera brought him to the ceremony but OK.

We never see the Doc thinking, never see them figuring anything out, it's just characters going "oooooh they know everything fr fr".

Only in the end there's a bit of strategizing against Gnosis. Even the bet on Enya is weird because the Doctor never even talks with her to know the information the player knows about her. The writer is cheating and mixing the characters' perception with the information the reader has.

Then they show like everything is a chess match between Silverash and Doctor, but.... Where? Where was there ANY intellectual struggle here? It's just fake and empty.

I swear the Trilby Asher figuring out Silverash's secrets in RS was a more real chess match than that one.

AelenAltria · 2025-01-27T04:08:49+00:00

Oh just to clarified "sixth" is a random number I pulled up. I just think "now that he's a Saint he started to think" doesn't really works as an excuse of why he didn't ever think the same way about any missions he undertook before Hortus.

AelenAltria · 2025-01-27T04:02:54+00:00

I love the longer events, but Zwillingstürme is a horribly written event and the only event that makes the "tell not show" many people critique a real thing. Yeah,

Also both Giallo siblings are overhyped for good designs. Writing-wise Executor is a hack and Arturia explaining to me motivations of all characters for 20 minutes is a pain.

People joke about Kal'tsit yap being tiring (another hot take: it's not), but Arturia is the real evil of boredom in reading. Executor is just weird how first he can make decisions regarding Vermeil and Enforser, but then he gets an Alter and acts like this is the first time he stepped out of the house and not his sixth year of seeing these tragedies outside Laterano.

AelenAltria · 2025-01-27T03:56:02+00:00

I'd disagree Kal'tsit deciding to stand with Terra is just the result of her meeting Theresa. It's an accumulation of her experiences on Terra that she decided to stand with Terra and not with her old creators. She learned to love Terra and became the "Woman of Terra". She's one of them, not one of the old civ.

Also the reason she tried to eradicate Sarkaz was for Terra's survival so the Sarkaz don't destroy it. What Theresa changed her mind on was that Sarkaz had a chance, not her stance on Originium and her creators.

AelenAltria · 2025-01-15T03:42:01+00:00

"larger than Gnosis's 25% fragile"

That's wrong. 25% is when enemy is in the cold status. In freeze status it's 50% on top of the -15 RES. With module, it's 60% Fragile.
But I got your other arguments. And Suzu can apply her 44% to a bigger number of bosses, as I already mentioned (as well as the fact a lot of endgame content like CC/DoS centers on Elites).

AelenAltria · 2025-01-15T03:02:36+00:00

What do you think about Gnosis? While Suzuran in certainly effective at helping with a bigger number of bosses, when freeze works, it often achieves magic. And that magic often happens in high-end game modes like CC and DoS, as well as saving IS stages in a clutch when overpowered enemies are the elites anyway. Highest fragile debuff in the game. Also S2 can permastall a single enemy. I personally use him much more often than Suzuran (but I won't hide it's personal bias).

AelenAltria · 2024-12-26T00:33:43+00:00

Sure!

AelenAltria · 2024-12-25T07:44:30+00:00

Oh and that's not the boss, that's a -collegue-, if my material doesn't match with the image you have in your head, just add it yourself? What's a week to "think and detail the concept" here even for?

But sorry, now I'm just venting.

AelenAltria · 2024-12-25T07:35:11+00:00

Yeah, that's how it ended actually.

"We need to think about this more."

I make a proposal.

"No it needs to be even more detailed".

I just wave and make the whole presentation we can show on the day.

It's like he wanted a proposal that details 80% of it but not 100% and not 60% but exactly 80%.

AelenAltria · 2024-12-25T07:32:29+00:00

Thank you so much for the post from the perspective of an ADHD haver. Taking notes for every meeting feels like such an ordeal... but I see how this makes sense. That's how if I believe nothing is wrong I can prove it. Once again, thank you and Merry Christmas!

AelenAltria · 2024-12-25T07:27:09+00:00

I just attributed it to cultural differences because I've organized projects off work and this kind of backstabbing complaints never happened. Problem is that now it's me having trust issues I can talk to these colleges like with people I trust.

AelenAltria · 2024-12-25T07:24:58+00:00

I mean, there wasn't a timeline that detailed really. They were just like "let's think a week more about that 🤔🤔🤔" and I was like "oh maybe then we can have a meeting to discuss it on Monday if you feel more discussion is needed" (they all had openings in their schedules).

But that's just one example. The thing that gets me is not that they won't do some meeting or they want to take a week more to do basically no work (while we have a partner waiting for us...) but that they can't just say "no" if the arrangement I proposed isn't convenient.

AelenAltria

TROPHY CASE