It's kinda hard for me to fully articulate my thoughts on a game that essentially existed for a solid 8 years while I've rushed through the story content in only two months. There are feelings I've not been able to quite feel due to my lack of history, and important context I can't help but lament missing.

So I speak here not as an old veteran, or even as someone with at least some history with the franchise like I had with FFXIV, but as someone who was sapped into this game this very year for a silly reason and couldn't help but forge through to the end.

Okay, so, game's good. I don't think I have much of interest to say concerning the gameplay, it's fairly engaging hack n' slash that does its job at worst, and uses fairly inventive tricks to heighten the story moments at its best (especially impressive for a mobile game).
What I signed up for, and I was really interested in however, was the story. I have an...acquiantance shall we say (wink) who had started this game around last year and praised it a very decent amount. I held strong for a while, but in the end I just needed to know what the deal was. What was she seeing, feeling, that I was missing out on. And I...understand now. Honkai's story is a heartfelt, beautiful ode to a lot of the themes that person and I hold dear in our chests, it's a deeply emotional plot that generally always kept me wanting to see more of the world and setting. It goes beyond the game and into the multimedia too. The numerous mangas, the two VNs, the numerous animations, the silly chibis, everything works together wonderfully to create what is one of the most comprehensive and insanely "full" experiences I've had with any story.

And here comes the part where I'm gonna be a stinky poo poo and complain about gacha again. Yes it's a gacha, yes I hate those, and yes I hate that this game is one too. In fact, if all my praise thus far is to the highest degree, I think the medium of the game still halts it from becoming a true and tried favorite in my heart. It's an unfortunate moral shield I still hold, but I cannot in good conscience praise this game again and again without the very large asterisk of: this game is still of the genre that aims to suck out your money with edulcorated gambling.

However. I praised this game first because what I saw, what I played and what I felt throughout my whole experience, from the writing to the characters truly did take their roots in me. Kiana, Mei, Bronya, Fu Hua, Elysia, and all the others who've had numerous arcs across multiple media and chapters were written genuinely and with a sincerity that affected me to my deepest core. So I want to emphasize that while I abhor this game's medium, it's something I can't really fully blame the writers, animators, designers and developers on. (Who am I blaming then? Capitalism.)

In short (lol); Honkai Impact 3rd is a beautifully written game with some stumbles here and there, especially in the first half of the game where it's clear the general outline of the plot was not quite as well defined. The gameplay is as fun as it should be and the multiple strong emotional moments have had their effects on me, to the point I'm a slightly different person for having experienced all of what Honkai had to offer. I just have to lament that this isn't a game one can ethically consume. And this will apply to any gacha I play in the future, which I guess makes me slightly part of the problem too, even despite my f2p status.

But I can blame capitalism all day (and I DO), in the end it's these complicated and mixed feelings that make up the bulk of my thoughts. I love this game, i love the world it developed around it, and I love the stories it made me go through.
But more than any of that, I love the insight it gave me into the passion of the person I hold dearest in this whole world.

Thanks Alise, may we keep fighting for all that is beautiful in the world, together.