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i cried when i heard 天黑黑 in the 3d teaser, it's so nice to finally hear such a familiar dialect in arknights

Dawg istfg.... I don't cry, almost ever..... I'm insanely in love with space, and Lone Trail fncking made Arknights from my number 1 favorite goat to number infinite. Sitting and listening to the fucking music on the home screen made me cry from the beauty of everything after not crying for two years. Nothing in life can top Lone Trail, and I'm happy with that. The only thing that could top this in my lifespan is getting accepte into NASA and/or making an insane breakthrough/discovery in astronomy. Everything about this game gives me constant frisson all over my body like nothing has ever done before. Even in writing this comment I feel tears welling up thinking about all of the art and music and insane lore in this game that Lone Trail adds onto. I absolutely love Arknights, and Lone Trail is my most favorite part of this game over my four years of playing this game I wanna cry so bad for this event and it's incredible beauty 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

While I agree with most of what you say, gacha is not in any way shape or form a genre. It is a business model which will never be anything more than despicable and disgusting based entirely in greed. Arknights is one of the better examples out there, but that does not change the fact that the entire model is designed and intended to be predatory. While it is true that the long term endurance of Arknights is partially attributable to the gacha system, there have been numerous more ethical examples of games with long term success like Path of Exile, Warframe or EvE Online, each older than 10 years. Couple the terrible business model with a really unforgiving and quite demanding tatical tower defense, Arknights' story and characters entirely carry the game.

This is a truly fantastic video essay. I learned a lot, and I love the topics you covered! I really, really hope you place in the top ten!!

Ironically GFL evaded the censorship by: erasing China, story wise. (North belian Island incident, when all hell broke loose)

I really enjoyed this. It was a well-constructed video and taught me a bunch of things about Chinese culture that would have gone over my head otherwise! In fact, it makes me wonder why there aren't videos like this for the other Arknights nations. And I love putting all my operators on regional languages/dialects--Italian, Russian, I just think it's all so cool that they're even doing that! (Polish when?)

Hm...., aren't things reversed? Shouldn't it "Chinese empowers Gacha Culture"?? Of course Chinese Culture would be promoted by default. But still a little weird for me since Gacha already popular before China overtake it from Japan.

Great video

You do realize Ak characters have no personality, charisma or traits that make them stand out from each other right? They're walking plot devices at best because the story style is plot based not character based which is funny in a business that's all about luring people with the new shiny Pokémon on the new banner. Character wise they suck ass. Design wise pretty great but that's all just a little trick.

Sorry but one good event isn't going to make up for what Arknights is becoming if it hasn't reached that point already But then again its a live service game so maybe it already happened.

I would also point out that we don't have to just look at the women, the men are also representing Chinese heritage. I can't praise this game enough for covering and borrowing from all this arts & culture. It's not just Chinese either but they're borrow culture from over the world. It's amazing and so rich.

Maybe it's just accidental, but 'half cup of rice' is actually a really clever name. There is a phrase in China -'half bucket of water' that is used when you think someome is being showy while not seeing the whole picture. And, often, it's used for self-deprecation when you think you can't address something perfectly, thus, remaining humble. Looking through this name, it's like you can see a humble Asian fella with sense of humor.

Arknights might be a "simple" Gacha game, but the storyline and lore basically beat those Triple A high budget game story.

The background music is a bit too loud to hear your voice well

Love the Chinese culture explanation of Arknights, not a lot of people go that in depth as you did into the inspirations behind the event, the Sui siblings and many operators. Keep on what you are doing, it adds more appreciation to the game.

Another banger from our favourite rice cup!!

Now I know. Everything about Sui siblings design make sense now😦

Bro really put the red bar there and thought nobody would notice (i'm nobody)

I totally agree with the criticism toward gacha game ( Live servive game in the West), because it is *indeed predatory in nature.* No amount of investment in quality or quantity will remove this. It is built into the system. Immersive setting and complex stories has been done to dead by other games, which is way, way memorable than what gacha game could do. Mass Effect, The Elder Scrolls, Diablo,... all have a very good setting and story without the need to drag the story out for money milking. Hell, even the way Arknights tell the story, visual novel, is outdated and frankly, horrible ( Visual Novel was borned because most Japanese PC at that time can't run modern game like their console, due to JP's associating PC with workplace, and view their console as the main entertainment tool). Half Life, released in 1999, for example, make me feel more immersive and memorable than whatever story Arknights can throw out. Hell, the way Arknights tell it's story *actually discourage me to read the story.* About the qipao, the oversexualisation with qipao isn't an accident. It's intentional. You said that clothes like qipao was borned in the 1st half of 20th century right? Well that period was during China's *Century of Humiliation* , a period wherr China is beset by foreign occupation and internal fragment into warlordism. When I saw the qipao as first I thought it's from the Qing Dynasty, until I look at the the Qing Dynasty clothes in movie and TV series and the doesn't looks alike. The Qing one looks way more modest than.... well, qipao. In fact, I also looks at clothes and faction from other countries during that period and they looks also very modest. Remember Reed The Heavy Flamer clothes? *That's how people in Europe looks like during that time period* ( Though it's much simpler and the dress also cover the front down to ankle. The best exampleis *Violet Evergarden,* which take place during their equivalent of post-WW1 era). That's mean for me, qipao were created to sexualise Chinese woman for Western occupier and coliniser, the legacy of Chinese humiliation that I think Chinese should not feel proud about. For the West, "liberalization" basically mean freedom to do anything without moral constrain or boundary that protect social harmony. Exploitation for profit, you know. That also include sexualisation toward woman. ( In economic and profit term, mind you. Sex and adult industries is a booming and profitable business)

AAAAAAAAAAAA! So excited to see another video from you. Gonna save this one to watch with the homies. Hope you're doing well!

I'm always excited to see a new upload from you, but this has got to be the best one yet! I had already grown an interest in Chinese art and culture from my time playing Arknights, so a video diving deeper into the references the game has to those things is a real treat. I'm glad I took the time to watch this, as there were many references I as a westerner had completely missed. Thank you for this insightful and well made video, you don't disappoint! 💯💯🙏

As someone who grew up in the Eastern US working on produce and dairy farms, I was very excited to see this event touched on a lot of things that showed how universal agricultural lifestyles are, regardless of where in the world you’re farming. Also you even found a legitimate excuse to zoom in on Ling’s legs.

Awesome video! Just wanted to add that Chongyue's event name is a reference to another poem!

I really love Arknights, because it literally makes expanded my horizons through their art mediums and how I can mirror myself and the world around me in its stories. Also, don't worry, my Sui operators are all using their respective dialects, even when I don't understand any of them; which are the same case for other operators who have extra voices outside of the four main languages in the game. Pray that we get more Sui or Yan related stuffs soon.

3:40 I feel that the background has nothing to do with the Northeast, but should be the area south of the Yangtze River, that is, the Fujian, Zhejiang and Jiangxi areas. Dahuang should refer to the great famine, especially the old capital Nanjing, not BeiDaHuang （the Great Northern Wilderness, the Manchuria area used to be a swamp, so it has this name)

Arknights stories are literal novels. I really meant by NOVELS. The depth and meaning of stories are god tier. And also the freaking time to read a story! But I think it's worth it

> Southrons celebrate all the Yantze-south references done well > Northeasterners being content because they have no cultural binds > Middle plains laughing at Zuo Le's fucking dialect > Northwesterners seething at the stereotype compilations in Yumen and a Death in Chunfen Is there not a single potatohead in HG? Sure Ling had a stiff Xi'an dialect but goddamnit they just threw shit around and called it a day. People think the Northwest is just full of forts, starving villages, and Uyghurs, you'd think our own nation would do better but nah all we got at Yumen are a fort, a starving village nearby, and a Tocharian girl. Other than that there are no problems, but it's so disappointing to see them researching everywhere else and chucking our homeland aside.

WOOO arknights documentary!

The video makes me want to make a gacha game about my own country The video is really well made! Cant wait to see what you make next!

you can say HG succeeded, the whole concept of Sui sibling rails me in to learn more about chinese culture and the story they told and the discussions arounds it gave a deeper understanding on what China is

Scared out of my shit when I heard such perfect Chinese in the opening shot

yt played this on auto for me at some point and I dont recall anything, so I went back and watched it. Really glad I spent the half hour to watch it this is a good video

Yan is truly a magical land. tianshi of Shangshu bringing their mountains to the new city not wanting to forget their roots, Dahuang bringing their paddies, Yumen where all across land migrates there to serve the nation and ofc the Twelve Pagodas, a living city with artificial godzilla heart. you'll see many lines on how even great Yan still have ppl under it's jurisdiction starved to death bcs of famine, village forgotten for centuries to the governments and so on. but i believe a civilization is at it's peak and on the right path when even with all the technology advancement they develop throughout the year, their cultures remain in their heart and daily lives. my fascination with dystopian futuristic mega city does not mean i believe that it's the only way a civilization may push forward, Yan shows me how that perfect blend is the bliss we all as a human being must strive for. bcs survival alone is not enough, our identity and history must endure thru our way of life. but seriously CNY event in gacha never been as good as AK, perhaps bcs HG never just wanted it to be "filling the quota" for nationalism but a true way to tell the story. and tbh that is also problems with most gachas in jp and kr too, they took their cultural holiday occasion just as an "event" not as a true storyline

My mother’s side of the family was an agricultural family from Fujian, they were rice farmers on top of growing other produce, and the section of the video going over rice farming was very informative of the history and plights of the agricultural history behind it

bro is embodiment of Kaltits. I really appreciate it.

HalfACupOfRice with the signature. Long, yet interesting explanatory video to watch

This was a really great video, and I love the exploration of cultures through Arknights-- Your videos keep getting better, and I do applaud you for evolving. Though I'm conflicted on the use of "dialect" here, it's a minor nitpick, ultimately- it's a form of exertion of hegemonic power through Mandarin to centralize "one" single culture over all others, even though, as you say, these languages are not mutually intelligible

A well researched analysis!

Arknights does really well at representation, yeah. It's one of my favourite things about the game, how well represented many cultures were even though the setting is entirely fictional. Take, for example, Bolivar. As a Latin American, it kind of irks me how all the representation we usually get in foreign media is just "beach place + narcos + crime". And while AK falls into that as well to some extent, the whole idea of Bolivar being a very politically unstable place in good part because of foreign powers wanting a piece of the natural resources there feels very close to home. Also, as a non Chinese, I can say I learned a lot about China from AK. It expanded my viewpoint a bit more over just the chinese sterotypes you usually see,

Man you released this at such a good time, now that Black Myth: Wukong got released to a international audience.

Arknights having regional voices is one of my favorite things about the game. What other gacha game would include Cantonese voice lines? (Probably only Reverse 1999 lol) Speaking of representation, it would be really neat if HG delves into SE Asia 🥺

I was so excited seeing the community post precluding this video, I had been hoping you'd cover this event! Excessively long comment to follow. I really loved the history and appreciate having the direct parallels to real-life Fujian laid out the way you have. I met my wife's family in Quanzhou earlier this year, and was unaware of the agricultural background of the province, even as I recognized Shu's regional accent as Hokkien- the segment on all of the Sui siblings and how direct and thought-out their connections to different regions was really nice. (I also enjoyed the primer on hanfu that diverges from qipao, I've been loving the growing trends in the modern incorporation of traditional dress like how you pointed out in Qiubai's newer skin.) I also really appreciated seeing the perspectives of Chinese players, particilarly the commentor who related Lonetrail (an event I see many people acknowledge mostly in its direct parallels to the American space race) just as closely to Chinese ideals of balance in ethics and technological development- I would usually just write these off as more universal themes, but seeing many people reiterate them as more reflective of Chinese culture makes me want to go back and examine things differently with them in mind. You've spoiled us in this one by going above and beyond, and I can't thank you enough for it! 💕

ti or or

I guess there is a reason why I enjoyed Here A People Sow more compared to other Sui events. The agriculture aspect of the story was a treat to read and the characters were fun to follow.

Fire video! 🎉 Half native Chinese here, it is amazing to see you explore the Chinese references HG implemented.

11:20 BASED 将进酒 recitation, ling would be proud

While I could just leave a comment saying Limbus mentioned, Pm sleeper agents have awakened. I want to add that I am glad that you did make the video on Here a people Sows event. As while I can’t comment much on the cultural side of it story and design wise I think it was very good.