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"We are the Penacony" ahh ending
There are 2 ways the quest can end up, and my review will change depending on the direction it takes.
1.) this was the last of Penacony; then this quest really sucked. It broke essentially every bit of dream logic, unexplained and unfinished conflicts (Trailblazer crying at the start of 2.0, Ratio's involvement, Sparkle's bomb, Firefly's "death"), and off-screen shenanigans that we are expected to believe happened in days since 2.2. I hardly believe it's the end of Penacony, or it was the biggest fumble of a story I've seen yet.
2.) We are still stuck in a dream. There's so much evidence pointing to this, and after the follow up quest I'm all but certain this was the route. I'll include some evidence below in no particular order (there's more that I'm missing but oh well):
-The latest HSR promo vid of Sweet Dreams Curtain Call, Sparkle all but confirms this saying "a perfect ending, but you're still not completely satisfied, are you?"
-2.3 is a mock in the exact way 2.2 ended when we were in the dream. We wake up in the dream hotel, all the characters come together, then Black Swan meets you in the train. Like Topaz and Aventurine literally talk to you the exact way they talked in the fake dream.
-Welt talks about the events in 2.2 fake ending as if they were REAL even though it happened in trailblazer's dream.
-NPCs right after the quest question if everything was a dream saying things like
"Hold on, I can't still be dreaming, can I...",
"Do you have this feeling that everything around us doesn't feel quite real... Like you've been living in a dream all this time?",
"feels like there's a lot more to the story..."
-REALLY sus text after reviewing memories on the TV saying "You can't tell what's real or fake... but that's enough for you... And so, you decide not to think about it anymore".
-The clock view from the train is STILL stuck on Penacony; time is not moving forward still.
-After doing the world quests on the new ship, the text says stuff suggesting that trailblazer is a "a brainwashed actor who is living in a false dream"
-The follow up quest as a whole was a mock of the fake dream ending. Like just do it and you'll see.
-The follow up quest QingQue says she feels "odd" like "something's missing" and that "everything was wrapped up too perfectly"
-Trailblazer STILL needs to wake up from the dream crying, which hasn't been resolved yet.
-2.4 event leaks are showing events that are related to dreams, even though we're likely going back to the Xianzhou. They're labelled like "Operation MEMORIA", and "that gray friend you once met in dreams".
-Acheron's messages being held for 2 versions until 2.3 where in the quest she emphasizes how we may likely never meet again, but in her text messages she says she's STILL on penacony.
-After the quest, you can buy a Hanu TV onto the express, which can only be used if you're in a dream.
Ratio's involvement as a whole being sus, purposefully not involving himself in this quest, and there's a lot connecting to him actually solving the anti-organic equation.
-Ratio also saying he's just a "supporting actor" when sparkle says everyone sees themselves as the main characters; either broken logic or he's purposefully doing so as a part of a plan (everyone needs to realize they're not the mc in order to wake up)
I hardly believe they would put in all these clues, break all the rules they established, and intentionally make the ending as uncertain as possible if not for the reason that wasn't real. The red herring in all of this is that we are likely going back to the Xianzhou next update.
Here's my final thoughts:
-The entirety of 2.3 is in trailblazer's dream, but certain scenes were real. Firefly's "death" in that scene was probably real, and trailblazer couldn't cope so locked back up in dream. It also explains the unusually cheesy ending with Firefly just descending after off-screen destroying Sparkle's bombs. It would ALSO explain Trailblazer finally waking up crying. Sunday and Robin's scenes were likely real though, and that's how it played out.
-We will still be sleeping in 2.4 and maybe onwards until they finally reveal the twist that something's wrong. The train has only 2 warps left in 'reality', so my assumption is that the train will go to Xianzhou, then back to Penacony.
There are 2 ways the quest can end up, and my review will change depending on the direction it takes.
1.) this was the last of Penacony; then this quest really sucked. It broke essentially every bit of dream logic, unexplained and unfinished conflicts (Trailblazer crying at the start of 2.0, Ratio's involvement, Sparkle's bomb, Firefly's "death"), and off-screen shenanigans that we are expected to believe happened in days since 2.2. I hardly believe it's the end of Penacony, or it was the biggest fumble of a story I've seen yet.
2.) We are still stuck in a dream. There's so much evidence pointing to this, and after the follow up quest I'm all but certain this was the route. I'll include some evidence below in no particular order (there's more that I'm missing but oh well):
-The latest HSR promo vid of Sweet Dreams Curtain Call, Sparkle all but confirms this saying "a perfect ending, but you're still not completely satisfied, are you?"
-2.3 is a mock in the exact way 2.2 ended when we were in the dream. We wake up in the dream hotel, all the characters come together, then Black Swan meets you in the train. Like Topaz and Aventurine literally talk to you the exact way they talked in the fake dream.
-Welt talks about the events in 2.2 fake ending as if they were REAL even though it happened in trailblazer's dream.
-NPCs right after the quest question if everything was a dream saying things like
"Hold on, I can't still be dreaming, can I...",
"Do you have this feeling that everything around us doesn't feel quite real... Like you've been living in a dream all this time?",
"feels like there's a lot more to the story..."
-REALLY sus text after reviewing memories on the TV saying "You can't tell what's real or fake... but that's enough for you... And so, you decide not to think about it anymore".
-The clock view from the train is STILL stuck on Penacony; time is not moving forward still.
-After doing the world quests on the new ship, the text says stuff suggesting that trailblazer is a "a brainwashed actor who is living in a false dream"
-The follow up quest as a whole was a mock of the fake dream ending. Like just do it and you'll see.
-The follow up quest QingQue says she feels "odd" like "something's missing" and that "everything was wrapped up too perfectly"
-Trailblazer STILL needs to wake up from the dream crying, which hasn't been resolved yet.
-2.4 event leaks are showing events that are related to dreams, even though we're likely going back to the Xianzhou. They're labelled like "Operation MEMORIA", and "that gray friend you once met in dreams".
-Acheron's messages being held for 2 versions until 2.3 where in the quest she emphasizes how we may likely never meet again, but in her text messages she says she's STILL on penacony.
-After the quest, you can buy a Hanu TV onto the express, which can only be used if you're in a dream.
Ratio's involvement as a whole being sus, purposefully not involving himself in this quest, and there's a lot connecting to him actually solving the anti-organic equation.
-Ratio also saying he's just a "supporting actor" when sparkle says everyone sees themselves as the main characters; either broken logic or he's purposefully doing so as a part of a plan (everyone needs to realize they're not the mc in order to wake up)
I hardly believe they would put in all these clues, break all the rules they established, and intentionally make the ending as uncertain as possible if not for the reason that wasn't real. The red herring in all of this is that we are likely going back to the Xianzhou next update.
Here's my final thoughts:
-The entirety of 2.3 is in trailblazer's dream, but certain scenes were real. Firefly's "death" in that scene was probably real, and trailblazer couldn't cope so locked back up in dream. It also explains the unusually cheesy ending with Firefly just descending after off-screen destroying Sparkle's bombs. It would ALSO explain Trailblazer finally waking up crying. Sunday and Robin's scenes were likely real though, and that's how it played out.
-We will still be sleeping in 2.4 and maybe onwards until they finally reveal the twist that something's wrong. The train has only 2 warps left in 'reality', so my assumption is that the train will go to Xianzhou, then back to Penacony.