[Wait, I updated too, but why didn't I see that PV?]
[Upstairs bro, miHoYo added two new story chapters, and there are several PVs. Each time you log in, it randomly shows one. If you want to see them all, just relog a few times.]
[Yeah, I saw Herrscher of Reason's and Celestial Hymn's PVs—sob sob… even Himeko-sensei's backstory was in there.]
[Watching the stream while pushing main story, life's good.]
[Herrscher of Reason's already graduated, and Bronya's motorbike is sick.]
[Sick? Seele's skills are sick, okay? Plus the animation effects—miHoYo really knows how to flex…]
…
After watching the promotional PVs, the barrage in Fallen's livestream was going wild.
Hardly anyone was even talking about Girls' Odyssey anymore.
"Alright xdm, let's throw in two 648s and see what we get."
To keep things moving, Fallen quickly recharged two ¥648 packs.
"Honestly, I don't even play this game, but that PV just now really shook me. After messing around for ten minutes, I gotta say—it's genuinely good."
"Forget the gameplay or graphics—just look at the attitude miHoYo put into this game. These two 648s don't feel wasted at all."
"Have you ever seen this? Every version comes with an anime short and a theme song. I sure haven't~"
The barrage scrolled with agreement.
In this world's gaming scene, forget music and shorts—most games didn't even have proper storylines.
It was always the same: log in, grind mobs, PvP, buy a monthly card.
No spending? Can't even beat mobs, let alone PvP.
Even worse—sometimes you did spend, only to get stomped by whales who mocked you while doing it.
Some games even planted shill players just to dance in front of you every day, provoking you to spend more.
"Alright, let's roll!"
Fallen tapped through several ten-pulls without hesitation.
"Hoh~ guaranteed A-rank Valkyrie every ten-pull, huh? Better than those three starter Bs."
By the 40th pull, Seele popped out.
"Hoh~ perfect timing. Just used up exactly two 648s."
The barrage kept spamming about claiming crystals from the mailbox, but Fallen waved it off.
"Later, later. I'll mess around with the new characters first, then we'll check out Penguin's new game, Girls' Odyssey."
He picked a few Valkyries he thought looked cool and started playing.
"So many characters… hard to choose…"
After a bit of struggling, he settled on Seele, Rita, and Fu Hua.
As he played, he tried to judge the game objectively, like any regular player would.
But the words coming out of his mouth were almost all praise.
"Sorry… I really wanted to nitpick, but… there's just nothing to criticize."
"I swear, miHoYo didn't pay me a cent."
"You don't believe me? Even Eden has been praising this game! If they've got a superstar like her on board, there's no way they'd bother with a small fry streamer like me."
"Alright, let's switch over to Penguin's Girls' Odyssey."
He opened the freshly installed game, still muttering.
"Honestly, after just ten minutes of Honkai, I'm hooked. I've played so many single-player titles, and this game's scope is no smaller than a console release."
"And from what you guys said, the real essence is still in the story… tsk tsk… makes me regret joining so late."
"Truth is, I used to kinda look down on mobile games. Don't be mad, it's just the normal hierarchy in gaming."
"Most people think mobile titles just don't have the same depth as PC or console games. Like—if you could make a great game, why not make it on PC or console, right?"
"Anyway, enough about Honkai. Let's see what Penguin's got."
He quickly made an account.
"A small studio can make something like Honkai Impact 3rd. Penguin's such a huge company—no way they'd do worse, right?"
As the login loaded, the audience could see the anticipation in his eyes.
Finally, the game booted up.
To his surprise, Penguin also opened with an anime short.
"Hoh~ the visuals are on par with miHoYo! Looks like Penguin went all in too."
On-screen, a red-haired onee-san and a white-haired loli wielded heavy machine guns, mowing through the battlefield.
The animation was smooth, the action fierce.
But… for some reason, it just didn't have the same impact Honkai's PVs gave him.
The short ended quickly, and the game jumped into combat.
Skipping through the tutorials, Fallen rotated the camera to inspect his red-haired onee-san.
And then—
"WTF!! What the hell is this?! She looks nothing like the short just now!"
From the back, he hadn't noticed.
But the front view? That face was nightmare fuel.
The barrage went crazy too, spooked by her uncanny looks.
It wasn't that she was ugly per se—her face shape was nice, big eyes, glossy red lips.
But… something felt off.
Like a Barbie doll mask slapped on a real human.
As a veteran gamer, Fallen quickly spotted the issue.
"I get it now—it's the game engine, or maybe the rendering."
"See, everyone knows Honkai was the pioneer of anime-style 3D games. Before that, everything was leaning realistic."
"So I'm guessing Honkai's engine—or maybe its rendering tech—is just different."
"Penguin tried to copy the anime artstyle, but the engine and rendering are still old-school. That's why it looks… mismatched."
"Still confused? Okay—think of anime. You've got pure 2D, full 3D, and 2D+3D hybrids."
"Different rendering styles give totally different vibes. My guess? Penguin only copied Honkai's look, but not the rendering method. So it feels off."
"I'm not saying Penguin's trash—they're a massive company, they could build a new engine if they tried. But they've never done anime-style 3D before…"
"That's just my guess though—I'm just some gamer, not a dev. If I'm wrong, well… just say I'm talking out my ass, haha~"
Truth was, you couldn't really blame Penguin.
Even if another studio tried, no way they'd match Honkai's polish in just half a month.
This world's game industry lagged far behind Earth's. Nearly every title ran on the same generic engine and rendering methods.
On Earth, devs had multiple engines and advanced rendering tech to choose from.
So when Honkai Impact 3rd dropped here, it was mind-blowing.
A dimensionality reduction strike.
Every studio was secretly trying to copy it.
Gameplay, monetization, everything.
But Penguin had rushed things.
They copied Honkai's gameplay and monetization, sure.
But when it came to its 3D anime rendering?
They hadn't even scratched the surface.
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