Honkai: Star Rail - Science Fiction Fantasy Gacha Game

So I promised my next post would be about Honkai: Star Rail, and here we are!

Star Rail is another Hoyoverse gacha game. Honestly, though, I find the story line more entertaining than Genshin Impact. It's that nice mix of science fiction and fantasy. And the humor is great, kind of off the wall at times (which is totally up my alley as you'd know if you've ever read any of my Fractured Fairies stories).

I've also already found two references to Persona 5, which totally made me fangirl - lol. It's awesome that the writers don't take themselves too seriously, making the story a lot of fun, even though there are plenty of serious moments. I mean, trashcans are a huge running joke. You have to play the game to understand... Trust me.

The art style is also fantastic. But you can judge for yourself because it's time for screenshots!

First up is my newest character's splash art - Feixiao.

Here's a nice shot of the Astral Express crew.

Now a few shots from the story line (unfortunately, I'm often too slow to get some pretty neat screenshots, or I'd have more - heh).

And finally, here's one of those humorous moments. The Trailblazer with a bunch of creations from a Genius Society member!

I know it's a gacha game, but as long as you can resist spending tons of money on pixels, it's definitely a game any science fiction and fantasy lover would enjoy!

Genshin Impact - My Newest Addictive Game

OK, so this post is likely just going to be mostly screenshots, and a little bit of my own art. PICTURES. That's about where my brain is today anyway. Processing words = hard (I haven't been sleeping well lately so, yeah...).

As many of you already know, I'm a gamer. Yes, I still play Everquest and Summoners War, but now I have a new addiction. Actually, it's kind of a family addiction since Hubbie and Eldest play as well!

Last October, the three of us started playing Genshin Impact, by MiHoYo. The biggest thing that drew us in at first was that it was available for free on Playstation 4 (it's also available on PC and Mobile, and it's in the works for Nintendo Switch).

As a warning, though it's available on a console, it's still a gacha game. But oh man, have they brought that genre of games to a whole new level! It plays like a normal console/PC fantasy RPG. There's a huge and beautiful world to explore. Chests (some hidden insanely well), puzzles, adaptability in game play, fleshed out characters (the ones we've received stories for at least), and a great overarching story. When I grind in this game, I feel like I'm playing Everquest (fantasy MMORPG) instead of Summoners War (fantasy gacha). Take a look at some world screenshots below.

We have paid in a little bit of money to it, but we're looking at what we've spent as pretty much a monthly subscription for the game (which we pay in Everquest still). The best deals to make the game a little easier but not spend too much is going for the monthly Welkin Moon ($5 USD) and the lower tier of the Battle Pass ($10 USD every six weeks). The Battle Pass especially has helped us with being able to partially build a few more characters to experiment with.

Of course, the characters are the biggest gacha draw, especially if you want some of the 5-stars. Though, if you're patient, you will gather enough Wishes to get a 5-star without spending a penny. The rates are pretty low, but they have a pity system built in, so you're guaranteed a 5-star after so many Wishes.

Here's one of my favorites that I pulled last month. ♥ Yes, I have fallen into the world of waifus and husbandos - lol.

So, me, Hubbie, and Eldest have decided to do some challenges with each other in Genshin Impact as well. It's a PvE game (so no PvP content at this time), but you can group with up to three other people to tackle some things together if you'd like. Our first challenge, though, had us killing as many monsters as we could in our own worlds. We had six categories of monsters to slaughter in an hour. I decided to make some "trophies" for these categories. So I drew some Genshin Impact cards! They're still in pencil only, but the front of the cards are below, and what's on the back of the cards is to the right.

Finally, we eventually plan to do a challenge in one person's world, only using one character each, and each type of mob will be worth different points. I made a big primogem for the trophy for who gets the most points (kind of similar to a wrestling title, it will be handed to whoever the current champion is, as we plan to do this challenge more than once). This one I colored already, but scanning it in dulled some of the colors. It's posted below.

So, what do you think? Am I crazy as usual? (Yes, probably.) Am I playing too much Genshin Impact? (Oh, definitely.) Have you tried Genshin? If so, what do you think? (Hit me up for a friend request if you enjoy the game and plan to continue playing!).

And you do know you'll all be seeing more screenshots from me in the future, right? Happy gaming!

Art, Or Where My Brain Is Before A Trip

I'd intended to write up a post about Wonder Woman, really I did. But my brain doesn't want to form anything coherent right now. (Hopefully I'll write up some comments for a later post, unless I get too distant from when I watched the movie).

It could be anxiety because it's been 4 years since I've ventured away from the family on my own for a long stretch of time (I've dealt with different levels of anxiety all my life, especially social anxiety, and no I haven't been diagnosed, but it does run in my family). Or it could be all the things on my to do list freezing up my molecules, especially my neurons. Probably a combination of both. I'll push through to at least get the necessary stuff done. But a thoughtful blog post? Hahahaha. Not right now.

Sooooo... pretty pictures! I poked around Pixabay for some neat ones simply using the search term "fantasy". Art definitely makes me smile and helps me shove down some of that anxiety, even if for only a brief moment.

First up is this haunted looking train. Definitely neat. I'm sure I've seen it other places around the internet. But I picked this one because I'll be hopping on a train tomorrow! Let's hope it's not a ghost train, shall we?

I also found this neat idyllic scene. I love the face in the tree and the blue butterflies make it pop. What do you think the woman in the picture is thinking? She looks deep in thought. I wonder if her hair hides pointed ears. This might be a good one to do a free write based on and see where it takes me (maybe while I'm on the train)!

And I love this one. Unicorns are my thing. I have a black unicorn tattoo. One of my friends also made me a Unicorno addict (those little figures are so expensive - lol). I love how the edits are done in this picture, though. Makes it all look more realistic. Oh, and I'm also seeking many, many unicorns right now: balance, writing career success, convincing my 3-year-old to not be so stubborn and willful...

Have any pretty art that you've found recently and love?

Fantasy Image Intermission

I need a week off from lengthy blogging, but I thought it would be nice to post something! So, I snagged a few fantasy pictures from Pixabay. These are free use, but if you search fantasy on the site, you should be able to find them in the first two or three pages.

The first one reminds me of a Fate story I started ages ago (Three of Swords - Sorrow) and really need to continue! I won't caption any of the other pictures, but maybe you can get some inspiration from the images below. Or at least they'll put a smile on your face. I love writing fantasy, and using words to tell stories is awesome, but I always appreciate how pictures can tell a story too. Enjoy!

Writing Prompt #3: A Picture Can Inspire A Thousand Words

Any past Tips & Prompts can be found on my website: Writing Tips & Prompts.

Writing Prompt #3: A Picture Can Inspire A Thousand Words

I bet you've already figured out what this prompt is about from the title. It's not a new idea, by any means. I've suggested using music before for inspiration, but sometimes all you need is something visual to set you off and start a story. One picture could give you an idea for an entire novel!

So, go take a search through some art on the internet. There's a lot of it. A couple good places to start could be Deviant Art (hey, if you find something you really like, maybe you can buy it or have the artist make you a custom creation) or maybe even Pixabay (I use this one a lot to find pictures for my website and blog posts, since all art here is under public domain - free to use).

Once you stumble across an image that kind of pulls at you, that you can see the kernel of a story in, look at it for a while and brainstorm. Or maybe you don't even need to brainstorm--a wave of inspiration could strike you right when you behold a beautiful piece of art. The most important thing is to write! It doesn't even need to be accurate to the picture--the picture can simply inspire something else, like dominoes lined up. You flick one and they all fall over, one after another.

Then when you're done with however much you decide to write, take a look at the picture again and feel the connection between what you see and what you just wrote. A million pictures could inspire a million different stories, you just have to look around to see what kind of art inspires you.

Here is a picture from Pixabay that I found inspiring. Do you? I'd love to see a snippet of writing you may come up with when looking at this picture. If you'd like to share, please post in the comments.

I'll post my own snippet below. If you don't want it to spoil your own inspiration, don't read it until you're done writing.

I'd been traveling for weeks. So many believed the vast oceans of the past to be endless, but they had nothing on the sky. Not only could you travel over water, but land as well. And most of civilization had crumbled to dust, so if you veered off course, there was no telling when you'd find a place to rest, to bolster your supplies.

And I'd done just that. Lost in a hurricane, barely escaping with my life and ship intact. Some say I should be thankful. I'd rather lose my life from a storm, though, than starvation and dehydration. Fast was always better.

Finally, I spied an island, one of the many splinters of earth that had fractured off during the Sundering. A tiny splinter. With a tiny tower. And a single old man that looked like he could have been alive for the Sundering itself.

NEXT UP: April Update