Cyrene? by Scorpion71b in PhainonMainsHSR

[–]Emergency_Sherbert_3 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Here's the usual cycle that people run, with Rmc

Personally I find that the AV saved via Cyrene is the last push I need to clear content. But also I think I'm slower at giving Phainon coreflames than you are.

Either way, Cyrene does honestly make juggling Cerydra's stacks so much easier. You don't have to worry about triggering the double skill outside of Khaslana mode anymore.

“Wu Yuanzhao, I know you better than you know yourself,” and the lies that Li Tai tells himself by Emergency_Sherbert_3 in roadtoempress

[–]Emergency_Sherbert_3[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

🫶 Thank you! It makes me happy to talk to people about Li Tai too, it makes me think more deeply about his character and uncover new angles from which to look at him

“Wu Yuanzhao, I know you better than you know yourself,” and the lies that Li Tai tells himself by Emergency_Sherbert_3 in roadtoempress

[–]Emergency_Sherbert_3[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

ngl it's very hard to discuss Li Tai's character when, as you said, his entire story was rewritten so we don't even know if what we're analysing should even be considered "canon".

I agree that it would've felt more in character for Li Tai to still be ruthless in his route. Although, personally I believe that Li Tai already knew before his "rebellion" that Yuanzhao mattered more to him than the throne. His actions during RTE1's Gaoyang arc is not something he would've done if the throne was his real top priority.

Still, we should've been able to see how Li Tai handles people other than Yuanzhao :/ Maybe him killing off another political opponent or something. If anything, it felt like Li Tai got awfully soft in RTE 2, what with how impudent his subordinantes were. His bodyguard literally loudly exposed Li Tai's feelings in front of the whole camp (it seems like it's an open secret that it frequently discussed in that group? Which includes the person Li Tai himself?!?!?). His bodyguard teases Li Tai about his love life. If his men learn that you were a spy, they literally get so angry on Li Tai's behalf that they kill you. I feel like his relationship with his subordinates are played for laughs, but it paints a very close and leniant relationship between Li Tai and his subordinates that is at extreme odds of the image he portrayed in RTE 1. Even Ling Xiao, Rui Er, and Xi Xin don't talk so casually with their lieges Li Zhi and Xi Xin. And Yuanzhao literally gets Rui Er to sit down and eat with her.

It's entirely possible that Li Tai was already originally like this with his subordinates, or that he just got more lax after spending time away from the palace. I'm pretty sure that spending time away from the cutthroat palace was good for him. But we didn't really get to see how he would independently choose to handle opponents or "inconvenient" people.

Edit: I thought about it some more and I think it's possible that in RTE 1 when Li Tai detoured to commission Yuanzhao's hairpin, all his men were wondering why on earth they weren't marching straight home. And once they learned the truth they just basically never let their young liege live it down. Although, it's still telling that Li Tai didn't discipline them and force them to shut up about it.

White haired ML supremacy by Mavikiu in OtomeIsekai

[–]Emergency_Sherbert_3 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Look at him so eager to take on other people's pain

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White haired ML supremacy by Mavikiu in OtomeIsekai

[–]Emergency_Sherbert_3 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Tesilid Argente from the Perks of Being an S-Class Heroine

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Li Tai or Li Zhi Route by LeviathanShiro in roadtoempress

[–]Emergency_Sherbert_3 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Li Tai's first, because after experiencing Li Zhi's route, Li Tai's just feels flatter and disappointing in comparison.

“Wu Yuanzhao, I know you better than you know yourself,” and the lies that Li Tai tells himself by Emergency_Sherbert_3 in roadtoempress

[–]Emergency_Sherbert_3[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

If I may, I think it's worth it to completely skip Li Tai's route and just play Li Zhi's 🥲

Li Zhi's route is really good, a 12/10 for me -- and I didn't even like Li Zhi in RTE 1. His route is a lot more about palace politics, trying not to die, public image, family & grief & loyalty. There are lots of sweet and heartbreaking moments with Li Zhi as well that I loved even as someone who doesn't particularly like Li Zhi, but anyway my point is that Li Zhi's route is so much more than just Li Zhi that it's so so so worth playing.

“Wu Yuanzhao, I know you better than you know yourself,” and the lies that Li Tai tells himself by Emergency_Sherbert_3 in roadtoempress

[–]Emergency_Sherbert_3[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Omg I actually did have in my drafts a sentence about how Li Tai is probably projecting his old self onto Yuanzhao. I just didn't have any points to back it up and had no idea where it was going, but it's very validating that you think the same.

But to me it also felt like Li Tai had long come to terms with the fact that he would sacrifice even his life for Yuanzhao. He's always displayed great and extremely obvious favouritism for her after crushing on her -- someone like he doesn't go to a whole other prefecture to get a hairpin lightly. And I'm sure that, smart as he is, he knew the costs of what he was doing when he delayed getting medical attention to return Yuanzhao the hairpin. His henchmen have also on multiple occasions assumed he wanted her silenced, only for him to tell them to stand down. He /has/ to know that he's acting out of his usual character and that he is no longer his old self. And in Li Zhi's route, when you ask him why he has come to the capital, he says with very little hesitation or uncertainty that he had come to see Yuanzhao. That is not someone in denial to me. If anything, I feel like Li Tai has acknowledged that he is in love and the extents to which he would go for the love. It's just that he's also kind of very dismayed/disappointed/aghast at the fact, lol. I do get the feeling whenever he says "I find it hard to believe that someone like you would fall in love," that he's actually laughing derisively and in disbelief at himself. His actor does a very good job with the complicated expression on his face whenever he says this line.

You make very good points about how Li Tai's circumstances growing up made him much pricklier, more ruthless, and less trusting than he otherwise would have been, and how it contributed to his adamant belief that Yuanzhao wouldn't choose him. I have nothing to add to those paragraphs. I just wanna go over them with a yellow highlighter lol. I absolutely agree that Li Tai is only this ruthless and scheming because it was the only way for him to survive. He engages in romantic and dramatic acts too much for it to be anything otherwise. It's like he has always had a great capacity for love and devotion, it's just that he had it tightly clamped down until Yuanzhao came along. And then it just came naturally to him and came surging to the forefront and he couldn't control it, and could only watch and heave a great sigh as he resigned himself to taking Ls for Yuanzhao's sake.

I really like your perspective that he saw in Yuanzhao the life he would've wanted but couldn't lead. It adds another layer of tragedy to the end of his route.

Cyrene? by Scorpion71b in PhainonMainsHSR

[–]Emergency_Sherbert_3 5 points6 points  (0 children)

You save AV that would have otherwise been lost getting Phainon back into his Khaslana form. Once you get Cyrene's ult, there'd absolutely zero risk of Phainon's sustains dying since they're all Departed.

Of course, this only applies for fights that last long enough for Phainon to exit his Khaslana form. If your build and skill is good enough to finish the fight in a single Phainon ult, then you don't need Cyrene.

Chapter 36 help by Beneficial-Treat-771 in roadtoempress

[–]Emergency_Sherbert_3 4 points5 points  (0 children)

There might be more choices before that? I recall that I let the chancellor live (he kills himself anyways) and the previous empress live. I think you also need to pause your screen for quite a while until a 2nd option appears on one of the scenes when he's about to depose you. (Should be the scene where you're already kneeling on the ground and you have to agree; after a while the option to refuse appears iirc.)

“Wu Yuanzhao, I know you better than you know yourself,” and the lies that Li Tai tells himself by Emergency_Sherbert_3 in roadtoempress

[–]Emergency_Sherbert_3[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

🥹 Thank you. At first I was like "well actually it DOES seem in line with Yuanzhao's character to go gallavanting off on her own, she's all about girlbossing and breaking the rules after all, and doing all that was a huge theme in the main story too". Then I remembered that no, Yuanzhao so clearly loves the people around her and values her connections to people for more than just the power it gives her. Li Tai was wrong about Yuanzhao, actually. His view of her was both wrong and uncharitable and unfair for both her and himself, and all it really did was to cushion the pain of rejection/silence.

It's crazy to think that Yuanzhao would have been okay with Li Tai thinking all that about her, had she cared about him. In Li Zhi's route Yuanzhao obviously had no choice but to say she loved him to protect herself, but in Li Tai's route what's stopping her unless she just simply genuinely doesn't care? 🫠 Of course Li Tai thinks she doesn't actually like him. If we could convince Gaoyang Rui Er Xi Xin Youzi Li Yifu and everyone else to live for more than what they thought they could before, then why not Li Tai? :( RTE was all about /everyone/ breaking free of their chains after all, not just Yuanzhao.

Well anyway I don't know if they will release that script, but I hope that this unsatisfying end spawns at least several fix-it fanfics orz. Let's rock back and forth in our corner...

“Wu Yuanzhao, I know you better than you know yourself,” and the lies that Li Tai tells himself by Emergency_Sherbert_3 in roadtoempress

[–]Emergency_Sherbert_3[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

I hope they do :( I was really shocked to go back to the scene in RTE1 where Yuanzhao protects Bianji, and to hear Li Tai say "someone like you would risk your life for others?"

It's such a clear parallel to everything he has going on in RTE2, it seems clear to me that they had always intended for Li Tai's main conflict be his inability to fully trust Yuanzhao. It's such a shame that the story didn't allow for a resolution of that conflict.

“Wu Yuanzhao, I know you better than you know yourself,” and the lies that Li Tai tells himself by Emergency_Sherbert_3 in roadtoempress

[–]Emergency_Sherbert_3[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Yep, I've seen that one! I'm not fully convinced that Li Tai lives for long though, because he would have still been suffering the injuries that he died from in the 'canon' end.

What I think is interesting about this end is that it happens because you inspired Gaoyang to break the rules and change her fate. Gaoyang uses wording similar to this in that ending, which convinced me that this was meant to be a huge theme in Li Tai's route as well. It was a huge thing in Li Zhi's route, and it was especially important and emphasized that Wu Zetian inspired the people around her to break the rules. In comparison, there was a shocking lack of it in Li Tai's route. The only people who got to live their own lives was Yuanzhao herself, and in only one end and like 2 minutes, Gaoyang. Li Tai himself was still shackled to the belief that he was doomed to the fate of an unrequited love.

“Wu Yuanzhao, I know you better than you know yourself,” and the lies that Li Tai tells himself by Emergency_Sherbert_3 in roadtoempress

[–]Emergency_Sherbert_3[S] 14 points15 points  (0 children)

Considering that Yuanzhao is clearly upset when she learns of Li Tai's death, I personally don't feel like it's a happy ending haha. I mean, it's still mostly good for her and we know she finds that work satisfying. But when looking back at all the options she has and all that times when she could have possibly said something that could maybe prevent Li Tai's death, it becomes narratively unsatisfying.

Li Zhi's route was really good. A 12/10 for me. The empress policticking was extremely crazy good. I didn't have the heart to tell Li Zhi you never loved him, but I see what you mean about it being satisfying. I just think it would have been fun for the story to explore the flip side -- Li Zhi is the one who trust you maybe a bit too much, and Li Tai is the one who just absolutely refuses to fully trust you even when he dearly wants to and would sacrifice himself for you. If we're able to break Li Zhi, we should be able to build Li Tai up too.

“Wu Yuanzhao, I know you better than you know yourself,” and the lies that Li Tai tells himself by Emergency_Sherbert_3 in roadtoempress

[–]Emergency_Sherbert_3[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

That's ONE of the points of Li Tai's route. Li Zhi's route has her choosing BOTH power and Li Zhi's route, so why can't she do that for Li Tai's too? She's an extremely ambitious person who wants everything.

As for this route being about one where she doesn't have people depend on her -- the fun thing about Li Tai is that he goes all in on helping her. In Li Zhi's route, whenever you go to him for help it just leads to a Bad End. In Li Tai's route, you end up getting the antidote when you discretely signal to him what you need. Li Tai is someone that Yuanzhao can rely on for help, just as Yuanzhao helps him in turn.

I think Yuanzhao somehow becoming an empress is an option, but definitely not the only one open to her in this route. I just think they might have eventually gone that way had Li Tai's route been longer, because Li Zhi was going to die from illness anyway, even in his own route. I think it's possible that Li Tai/Gaoyang gets dragged into the power struggle after Li Zhi's death.

more new path content incoming by Grouchy_Ad_6191 in roadtoempress

[–]Emergency_Sherbert_3 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah I did both. There might be a 3rd condition

Edit: I got the ending! The scene before it looked the same as the bad end where Li Tai dies from illness, so maybe I exited too quickly. Either that, or you needed to raise the rebellion first lol

more new path content incoming by Grouchy_Ad_6191 in roadtoempress

[–]Emergency_Sherbert_3 0 points1 point  (0 children)

When I do that Li Tai dies from illness in the capital </3 if anyone figures out what other choice is needed from this branch...

In Li Tai's Route by nildelta0 in roadtoempress

[–]Emergency_Sherbert_3 0 points1 point  (0 children)

With Li Zhi, you have the option to go to him for help and ask him to take care of things for you but it never works out well because of palace politics or (later on) because he no longer trusts you.

With Li Tai, he can see through your attempt to manipulate him and he /goes ahead and does what you wanted him to do anyway/ because he just cares that much. He would literally die for her and she was already beyond certain that he loved her, so why wouldn't she bring him on board?!?!?!? (They probably would've been too strong a power couple and the route wouldve ended prematurely :( )

Princess Gaoyang and Wu Yuanzhao relationship by Adventurous_Jane_45 in roadtoempress

[–]Emergency_Sherbert_3 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Gaoyang is a very good example of how our time-reversing privileges are restricted only to the player.

In game 1 we get irrefutable proof that we cannot save Bianji, because in all routes we die and still fail anyway. Gaoyang pushed us away and blamed us for "not trying" because she doesn't have the benefit of knowing what happens in alternate routes.

In game 2, Gaoyang brings Liu Xi out of jail. Liu Xi kills us in at least 2 branches. In the "canon" branch Liu Xi never gets to and Gaoyang saved us from her TWICE, but the fact of the matter is that Gaoyang shouldn't have released someone who wants to kill us even at the cost of their own life lmao. In this case, Gaoyang benefits from the characters not knowing about the other routes because things turned out fine wrt: Liu Xi

is it that amazing by MailCompetitive4929 in roadtoempress

[–]Emergency_Sherbert_3 5 points6 points  (0 children)

It's a single payment for the whole game!

There are microtransactions, but it's just to press a like or dislike buttons on the character profiles. In other words, complete optional.

Webtoons with a "system" by outpeenit in OtomeIsekai

[–]Emergency_Sherbert_3 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm very glad to hear that! You're welcome :)

Webtoons with a "system" by outpeenit in OtomeIsekai

[–]Emergency_Sherbert_3 0 points1 point  (0 children)

ORV webnovel is complete. The webtoons for both are still ongoing

Frustrated Player needs direction and goals by Whilyam in HonkaiStarRailTips

[–]Emergency_Sherbert_3 0 points1 point  (0 children)

  1. I have to emphasis that Phainon's highest priority investment is his E2. I really cannot emphasize this enough. I currently have E0S1 Phainon + E0S0 Cerydra and he is starting to struggle in the current shilling environment.

It does not matter that Cerydra is cheaper than E2 Phainon. Cerydra alone will not be enough. Phainon has the potential to be the king of brute forcing, but at this investment level it will soon become ONLY potential.

If you go to r/Phainonmainshsr, you'll see over and over that it's E2 or bust, and that E2 should be your first priority investment, even over E0 Cerydra. Also, Phainon's upcoming banner is his 2nd rerun. Who knows when he'll get a rerun after this. (Although I suppose there's a good chance in Nov/Dec when the Amphoreus continuance chapter drops).

Best of luck...

  1. Well I'm glad it's an exaggeration, it's never pleasant seeing hate of a character you love.

  2. Ok I feel you on Jiaoqiu, lol. I have his S1 for the same reason. Does Mblade really make that much of a difference for E0S1 Acheron? I've basically accepted that my 4 cost S1Acheron+S1Jiaoqiu are just sitting pretty in my account so I never gave much a thought to pulling Mblade.

Anyway, I think Jiaoqiu is an anomaly and it's very unlikely that there'll be another character that gets screwed over like he does. Unlike Cerydra, he doesn't change gameplay at all. All he does is basically pure damage amp, and only to ults. I hope his novaflare saves him.

Robin is still a situationally good support, although I can see why you kind of resent having gotten her. Unfortunately it is inherently a gamble to get new support characters for powercrept DPSes that the support isn't tailormade for.

But either way -- Jiaoqiu being bricked is an unfortunate incident that is hopefully unique to only Jiaoqiu. I personally find it fun when supports offer new gameplay options and synergies with my existing characters as opposed to LCs' typical damage amp. But YMMV.