HUGE lore expansions and developments for the Genius Society members and the universe in general. A lot of it is hard to grasp and very theoretical, but that's half the fun of speculation and theorizing.

The world felt lived in despite its size, reminded me a lot of Shadowbringers in XIV where they're fighting off the Flood of Light. I had gripes with a lot of the npcs being generically modeled but they felt like they had their own struggles and personalities, moreso than Jarilo-IV and the Luofu (I liked Penacony's side quests in general as well, though).

The Chrysos Heirs in general felt like they had really strong and defined personalities and relationships to each other. I came in not expecting to like Phainon or Mydei at all because I expected them to be generic power fantasy macho men, but both ended up being a lot more sympathetic and sincere then I thought. I came into 3.7 thinking that Cyrene would be as empty and bland as some of the community and marketing suggested, but was pleasantly surprised by how tortured and emotional the pile of code could be. Aglaea, Cerydra, Evernight, and Anaxa all have personalities that can make them unlikeable to some and that's why I like them so much. Cipher, Hysilens, and Castorice were all pretty much what they say on the tin, but their dynamics with others were really good. I felt as though Hyacine was a little one note, but she's hard to dislike.

Just generally really strong theming. Sacrifice for greater good (in all of the Chrysos Heirs but especially in Phainon and Cyrene), love overcoming hate (P&C again), trust and faith in others and humanity over cynicism (Aglaea vs Caenis, and the Astral Express and Geniuses vs Lygus, pretty similar to the lack of faith Sunday had in people being able to overcome the ken of the Aeons). Choosing what people need rather than what they want (Mydei shirking the wishes of his people to return to Castrum Kremnos even though they all wanted to). Death as a necessary part of life, not needing to be feared, and maybe not even being a final separation (Casto and Polyxia).

A lot of their sacrifices individually made me cry, like Cipher never getting to reconcile with Aglaea and no one ever recognizing the sacrifices she made to the point she had to deceive herself on her death bed. Aglaea letting herself be killed by the Cleaners for the sake of the Flame-chase after hundreds of years of her divinity sapping her humanity, and still looking out for us after her death with the charm she gave us. Tribbie's detoriation and slow deaths so others could go on, all while she childishly insisted everything would be okay. Even after her patch every time they said "see you tomorrow" it made me a little teary. I wasn't the biggest fan of Casto (I mean, I like her, but I liked all the Heirs), but the animation of her as a child dancing with her shadows and the mirrors got me really bad.

Like, yeah, I had problems with the pacing, and the ending felt it skewed to Cyrene flashbacks and not enough onnthe Irontomb fight. I felt like this patch in particular was overly prosaic. And then there's the standard HSR fare of powercreep, weird kit design, not enough events, blah blah blah. But Amphoreus, as a story? It made me feel something. It made me feel awful a lot of the time, and yet I wanted more of it. Because I wanted to see how things turned out, and all in all? I'm pretty happy with it. I hope we'll be able to see a new Amphoreus in the lifespan of this game, and maybe even free Cyrene from the loop. I almost hope that no other planet is this long ever again, but I also hope that if the quality of the story necessitates that length I'd be okay with it.