How ordinary a lot of the characters are actually makes Terra a whole lot more interesting. And funnily enough, due to a general lack of ordinary characters in other games, they never come off as boring. In fact, 'epic super strong swordmaster' feels more basic (just because every game has one) than 'this girl gives people haircuts.' The IRL job representation in Arknights is underrated, even it's a rather silly thing to love.
Yup. I think that having "ordinary" PLAYABLE characters makes player experience so much more immersive. It allows us to peek at the world through eyes of normal people which also makes the worldbuilding deeper because you can see the actual (not a blatant placeholder like in most cases) everyday life of a person in said world
Limbus company giving you a playable 9/5 jobber office clerk that in the story shows up and dies in the same cutscene and is never mentioned ever again
It's even funnier in his files, he mentioned everyone keep telling him that he don't have any "cables" to any Columbian companies so he can never get a job so easily and then he just tried his luck with Rhodes.
In my case, my favourite medic: Sussuro. Just a normal doctor. Literally, she has a normal life with her family. She studied in college, she practiced at some hospitals. She came to Rhodes in a completely normal way; for work. Simple way, simple life. Totally my favourite. And also totally not because I listened to an amazing ASMR of her voice somewhere
whenever someone asked what Arknights about, i always answer with "the whole history of Terra" the fact our story timeline is not categorized as arc but year dates before BCE till the 1100 if people think they're in for a story of 1 group they got scammed, its literally just a glorified history book of a fiction planet one other thing, AK fodders NPC (the NPC that use the generic sprite instead of specialised individual ones, can be charming and impact the story aswell, one example is the RI mobber in Broca record, or the rival from Silverash record, they make Arknights an actual living planet)
Speaking of generic NPC dudes, I still remember that one mafia dude and his precious adopted pet dog, and the poor infected girl trying to hold a funeral for her cat from Luo Xiaohei's event. They're not really impactful in the story but they flesh out the world the story is taking place in even though they're generic NPCs
I always like the pilot of Rhodes island (I forgot he's name) he always have a role as a pilot and you bet hes always the best at it When we'll he be playable?
@@iberis361 i would prob count them as impactful in the story (not in the greater form) in the way they actually have their own life and story to influence the reader and Arknights does alot of this
I rlly like that Yanese guy who tried to film a documentary while traveling to the rural area with Wind Chimes in A Death in Chunfen story... Imo this character reflects how well and real AK can write 'ordinary characters' who doesn't even have their own art, And that makes Terra not just a setting, but smth that feels real and we can relate to I think thats how AK story is charming in its own way😅 There's also plenty of good chars in A Death in Chunfen story too! Despite it being just a mini event.
Maybe the reason I love arKnights so much is how grounded their looks are. They're not super flashy with bright colors. They're more realistic and not too fantasy-like. For example, Penance, Degenbrecher, and Mylar just wear their job uniforms, and yet they seem to be one of the most popular characters.
Well, and they're actually mechanically powerful so it helps their popularity too. But yes the more grounded design of Arknights is what makes me stick from Year 1 to this day. Which is why I don't find Endfield as appealing because they look like yet another generic overdesigned sci-fi anime romp. I already got shit like Star Rail or Xenoblade series for that.
While "Knights of the Ark" is likely an intended reading of Arknights, the ordinaryness of so much of the story and characters really shows; its really about those "Nights on the Ark"
Arknights is ultimately a story about hope and light in an immensely dark and depressing world. Shining the light on the average person's trials, struggles, and triumphs fits with the themes and story just as much as the incredibly fantastical. Some of my favorite ops are fairly normal individuals like Pinecone and Kroos and I adore when they get screentime and given a voice.
My favorite event story in arknights is Come catastrofes or wakes of vultures because of how grounded it is, hell, the main antagonist of that story is not even a person, but a bank.
Players often do not realize just how much worldbuilding there is in Arknights. And just as you said, they either supplement another event story or on their own unique experiences. Operator Records carry a portion of it, and their associated operators. But often times, players do not read them, when they're important with the operators characterization. It's often "update time, time to do Paradox Simulations. I will read their Operator Record soon (never)."
I don't mind ordinary characters, on the contrary, some of my favorites absolutely fall into this category. A good example could be one of my favorite sniper operators, GreyThroat. Her parents abandoned her and left her on Rhodes, not only she's nothing special but she's also rather problematic (and disliked) and she suffers from the effects of her traumatic childhood. Regardless, through training and a bit of natural talent she eventually becomes a reliable sniper operator and through her experiences working as a RI operator, she slowly begins working through her traumas, growing closer to people and getting better in the process. Personally I find such a grounded and personal backstory quite relatable (and heartwarming in a way), I actually often prefer such characters over those that are super important, special or have some sorta overpowered abilities precisely because I feel like I can't really relate to those characters and for they often seem to lack any serious flaws which means they there's little character growth left for them to do. Fun video, I subbed :)
7:49 this trait of Arknight itself is what I like about the game, it make you feel that although you the Doctor doesn’t necessarily involve in every thing through big events, shit around the world in the game still happen, we got to see shit happening around the world not by the scope of the main character but some random people that we don’t even know about, we got to see a character development through the scope of the people around them and how they deal with their problems THEMSELVES not by the interference of the protagonist (I’m looking at you G games) Really make the game feel more lively
The build up to the end using Settle Into Ash was excellent. And yeah, Arknights does great work with making relatively ordinary people relevant regardless, even with their six stars. Before I knew about her actual story involvement, I thought Saileach was a Jeanne D'arc type supersoldier for Victoria, like the Victorian Nearl. But instead, for her position to actually be mostly ceremonial, and for her 'only' contribution to be inspirational? That was the real shit.
Reminds me of how all of blue archive is literally all about the uniqueness of everyday normal people in real life. Fascinating to see its the kind of concept only a gacha game could excell at
Man I love the editing of this vid. Some characters aren't really given the privilege to have a stable source of income which makes the story realistic. Not always will the character have it easy to sustain themselves, they have to work on a daily basis just like an average person. So even if their background seem boring because most of their lifetime is spent at work, its just them doing their best to survive. It is necessary to maintain the balance of the story to show some difference of status of the characters and their imperfection
Given that having cancer in Arknights will make everybody hate you, jobs you can have borders slavery and need expensive medicine for the cancer. Being an average joe in Arknights is a blessing.
Related but not mentioned: In Arknights, pretty much every playable Operator has actually signed a contract with Rhodes Island. Compared to other gacha games that have a notable number of characters who would only work with you in select circumstances really helps to sell how compelling Arknights world is.
Fantastic video and great editing. Was playing this on my second monitor, but you got my attention so well that I had to stop what I was doing and move this to my main monitor to lock in. Great stuff.
Not really Ordinary Characters perse but to this day I am still patiently and eagerly waiting for characters of Castle of Dreams to be expanded on, Iris and Bena are absolute sweethearts in a world full of bleak and suffering. I love the concept of Fairy Tales crossing in other medias and getting their own unique spins on such familiar tales (i.e. GuardianTales/Black Souls/SinoAlice/etc. lol) Also that one Cautus bunny dude in suit is hot. WHERE IS HE HYPERGRYPH?! IT'S BEEN 4 YEARS AAAARGHHHH
I love Podenco. She's not that special in the grand scheme of things. Just a girl that really really likes flowers. She leaved her hometown to see and cultivate plants she never seen before, and she got the opportunity to make it her job thanks to Rhodes Island. She is very passionate in her job, and seeing her being so dedicated and happy in her life made me fall in love with her. A ordinary character surrounded by extraordinary people, and yet, she managed to be happy thanks to her passion. All she want is to share her hard work to the most people as possible hoping that it will make them smile. Gosh, I love her so much.
I guess you could say that, um uh... the true story were the knights we arked along the way! Amazing vid. Contrary to what was said, of exceptionally high quality too. Keep it up!
The oridinary characters are also very important for the thematics of the game. You can tell a story about disease, bigotry and disparity without ordinary people but having ordinary people helps remind you the player why you’re even doing anything.
Being ordinary character is something that makes you sort of extraordinary in relation to other gacha games, as weird as it sounds, but I 100% agree, ordinary people is something that makes AK so special by feeling real, it's that moment when you almost want to be a part of this world, ignoring Oripathy, racism, wars, oppression, Originium... It's not a perfect place, but it feels alive, and R6 collaboration stories make it even more real by letting you compare both world and see that even someone from our world, after spending some time here, realizes how strange yet familiar Terra is. I love Arknights world building a lot, you know things are real when they actually use collab as a way to expand on their world with using a different IP, it's such an impressive thing
I find these ordinary charas far more interesting than all the fantastical charas in other games, style is great and all but you need substance too the way the ops files are written and just the all the writing in general really help make these characters enjoyable to see
ray story part when she rolled down on to the mine with her sandbeast is perhaps one of the best ordinary ppl struggle in arknight. i felt her fear and guilt truly when the sandbeast about to die. pov truly is everything
I really think the reason why ordinary people (playable characters specifically) in arknut is very special is because the context of the game. The word of Terra is always on the brink of destruction, eldritch horror at the sea, incomprehensible cosmic entity at the north, catastrophe every now and then, rock cancer, you may even just finished building your house and 5 sec later it got destroyed because it got built on the… moving trajectory of a nomadic city ( the guy from reed story event, rip bro 🙏). So watching these people try their best to survive is kind of a thrill really(not try to be a lunatic masochist here), hence make us player invested in them And in HSR well…, let say the biggest threat of the universe is the swarm disaster has already pass by the time the protagonist woken up so there isn’t any background to highlight character with ordinary “trait” hence we have those super OP individuals as you said in the start of the video
Yep, there is so much npc with details in Arknights that you don't even know which character is "special" anymore. We have someone like Lemuen who look like a playable character but still is a npc and Insider who look like a npc but playable. Arknights world is alive, everyone has a story and we aren't the center of it. We just happened to passby and know their story
To be fair, Insider was in fact an NPC who broke out of NPC jail. Which is probably why Arknights' NPC jail is so large. So many NPCs dripping with the qualifications to also be playable.
I'm very used to arknights content creators just doing showcases or gameplay so analysis on anything but the gameplay like the characters, the lore and the overall aesthetics of the game is a breath of fresh air. I personally would love to see more of these kinds of videos from arknights content creators. Keep cooking brother!!
I've had to answer that question about "What is Arknight's story?" recently, and came to the reality that almost everything in the game is the story. Aside from the obvious visual novel sections and the operator files themselves, the module descriptions are chock full of lore, the map descriptions and titles contain hints and references for those willing to look (check currently ongoing Babel event), and all items have a diverse range of lore, INCLUDING EACH FURNITURE PIECE. There's so much in game lore, that I sometimes gloss over the out-game lore too. There's multiple official comics (such as the Rhine Lab and Rhodes Kitchen), as well as rare appearances of web promotions, such as the Siesta brochure for So Long Adele. Recently I finished reading the interview from Angelina, this month's expedition operator in IS4, and it not only cements her role in the continued development of Sami after... well... IS4 takes place, but also reveals a crazy detail about Doc's previous civilization that explains the stargates and hints at Angelina herself. Please read everything guys. You will find answers to questions you never thought about, just like watching random educational videos on RUclips.
This is my niche in Arknights. Lore-based power level as a way to determine each operator's level and whether they able to get an E2 or not. As in, if the later story mentioned that they are more clever and experienced (for example Ceylon), then their base version won't be granted an E2. That is also why I can't E2 Horn and the others from Londinium arc yet because the arc isn't finished yet and I haven't read the story. I really love how you frame the overall of the story through Arknights' 'ordinary characters'.
I like how for many characters living a somewhat ordinary life is the goal in of itself, too, that being a lot of the 3*. Or characters like Shalem who run away from their backstory as fast as humanly possible and crave to become bob from accounting
Great video. The biggest draw of Arknights to me is how alive the world feels as a whole and the existence of these normal people is a huge part of it. Characters not being artificially made to care about the main story plot or whatever other major event goes on in some other place of the world that is at that point completely unrelated to them. The parts of the world as a whole are portrayed in a way that shares this independence, even though there's also a decent amount of focus in international tension and how this affects them. On thing though, don't we have an official map from the Discovered Terra videos? Which does match the annihilation map, but you get both more of the map (not saying the whole map since they added the unknown area in the north and Aegir in 3.0 so who knows if they'll add more in the future) and more border information than in the annihilation map.
@dusk252-ak In all honesty I kinda rushed the last section and completely forgot about Discovered Terra, which is very odd given I used Retraced Terra as footage. But yeah those maps make my point moot barring needlessly specific details like absolute distance/direction
Being someone that uses Quartz a lot, I can unironically confirm what we know about her mostly is that she is a wanderer that for a while, no longer had a home-she's basically one part of the massive flavor text Arknights has cooked up; with a lens we can see individual experiences of people, and what therein lies for other folks around. And for her being ordinary, she's definitely the case of being subtly interesting. We know very little about her, she doesn't connect to anything specifically in the story, she isn't infected, she isn't impressively trained using her greatsword in an unwieldy way, and only has a rugged toned body going for her. Yet... she holds an interesting characterization for just being someone that *wants* to live despite her past and horrors around her. "Do what you want to do. Never again regret what's gone by. Never again fear what's yet to pass... I may not know where my next destination is- But I know where I should be going." - Quartz
the annihilation maps are actually canon because in the story it is highly implied that the lungmen annihiolation map was the actual battle rhodes and the LGD did against reunion. So the annihilation maps all correspond to some big battle that has happened in arknights.
@timelessmoron Funny story I got Adobe for free throughout college but for whatever reason they didn't revoke access for literal years afterwards. I'm only switching now because I'm guessing someone at Adobe finally decided to flip the free trial over switch
Who tf are you bro?!!? What's are these mad crazy editing skills ?!?! The narration is peak god The ideas of contents are hella astonishing I just discovered you randomly on YT You're now my new favorite AK CC ?! Nah this is crazy dope video here Almost dropped a tear for this. Thank you
Amazing vid! You really writing some hard-to-descride feeling what i love about Arknight! Like damn i can memorize a lot of short stories about character in Arknight that weirdly so basic yet so interesting to know because some just crossing with other characters. Also how we can deploy like 13 characters in squad really make dev can make a lot characters even they arent in story so all is fine (not like other gacha games where mostly just 3-5 chara) so i feel its all good raising this low characters. Your essay really good, just like that design perspective of Lone Trail event.
Favourite case of really ordinary character in Arknights (especially for a 6 star) is Angelina (yes AngelinaGuy™️ talks about Angelina funny) Theres a passing joke that Ive made with my friends about how Lm7 operators varry from a wanderer thats also a cerberus, to a operator based on the winged serpent of Mesoamerican Mythology, a eldritch hunter named after Typhon of greek myth, and then just delivery fox girl :P Yes she gets an endfield appearance and a Bloodline of Combat outfit. But we've never once really gotten a proper answer on the "amazing thing she did". Even in the Angelina manga while she plays a major role in moving along the story, she is more of a passenger to tell the story of other characters from Terra and I think its neat to see what the stories of other nations are like. Closest we got to a major Angelina is important and deserves the 6 star title is IS4 monthly story likely to hint at endfield or whatever the particle creation thing likely means. Even with all that, the operator herself in her files, voicelines, oprec, and modules she is as ordinary as the people in the universe. A runaway infected girl who through a chance encounter became a messenger that would inspire others. End of the day she's just a girl who likes reading young adult novels, dressing up, trying on jewlery and has a passion for old music (hinted to be classical music based on her Ambeince Synesthesia apperance) She's just a messenger from Siracusa ❤️ But seriously tho theyve never once explained why she has gravity arts or where she got her arts staff from. Who gave the girl a particle accelerator????
I really love how ordinary April's life is. It allows me to sit back from all the seriousness and importance of characters. The world doesn't need to revolve around you, so to say.
having been playing from release i already have a solid roster of (most, didn't get typhon) meta 6 stars that can deal with anything. lgd, materials, sanity in general means nothing to me now. i'm building operators for their records and files now and i love it. fundamentally, arknights is about terra. sure, it's through the eyes of rhodes island, but in the end it's about the land, the nations and the people that inhabit them. maybe it's not so much a plot, but rather the most character-based worldbuilding project i've seen.
The power scale in Arknights shape how amazing interactions between characters are. For example, an ordinary operators casually talk to Shu, the literal fragment of godlike being. Or when people on Rhodes's HR department panics when Mlynar almost destroying their practice facility.
If I recall, annihilation maps being story related is up till Annihilation 3, 4 onwards are just "battle simulations". Hence the periodic rotations and new "maps"
Settle into ash started playing and then I was ready to start singing... oh it's the instrumental :(... THEN THE LYRICS CAME IN AFTER U FINISHED UR SCRIPT
Another detail I like about all the Operator that is or was a child soldier is that they don't know how to read. I like how its a reminder on how war can robbed someone of something so simple and that now they are in Rhodes, they finally have a chance to learn. It's little detail like this why I like HG approach to characters in Arknights. I think it's fine for them to not appear in a major story event, not all characters need that, as long as they themselves have something interesting to say about the world or their place in it.
Hoyoverse games (at least, the ones I played: Genshin and HSR) are about a journey and a central group of characters. Arknights is about the history of Terra and its civilizations, and the key moments within this world, and of the people, big and small, who are both influenced by and leave their mark on the events happening around them. Another NPC who is "ordinary" yet influential is probably Cecilia. Yes, she's one of the only successful Sankta-Sarkaz children, but she's just a child and acts exactly like a child would. But through her, the other, bigger characters and the wider Lateran community are able to see a prospect of peace and unity between the Sankta and the Sarkaz, and how her innocent mind is above the generational divide between their races. And Enforcer, too, is just your average Notarial Hall worker, yet has his role to play in Guiding Ahead.
I love Meteor :3 She's someone who has suffered more than her fair share yet she continues to be kind and caring through it all. She has no special arts proficiency that distinguishes her, just being a 4* sniper with a knack for knocking drones out of the sky and breaking armor. There's a sprinkle of mysticism in her with her token, being a garland that doesnt wilt, but above any kind of higher calling, she's happy to help out as much as she can by watching the kids on the landship or wanting to build a campfire area for others to socialize. Despite, or maybe because she does not interact with the story at all outside of her own vignettes, I really really love her. Aside from her beautiful design, she's a great reminder of how operators with no exceptional abilities on par with surtr or frostnova can still shape the battlefield in a meaningful way and that doctor doesnt need to always be in the presence of giants and instead have someone as humble as a forest ranger help him with his paperwork.
8:33 10/10 accurate representation of what's happening in chp10-13 (i agree too many characters need to share the screentime, i almost forgot about the nightingale/shining subplot that's happening
Muelseye is basically a scientist and work in PR department in the past before her boss Christine went off to space. Not to mention she is the last of her kind of Elf who bonded with Doktah who is also the last of his kind. The Penguine logistic are basically couriers although Texas is a former Mafia daughter. My favorite Caper is a Brat from Bolivar
Arknights appeals to me for the same reason I like to play the Imperial Guard in 40k: It's a story about (mostly) regular people standing against the dark. It's a display of the indomitable human spirit. And better yet, in the case of Arknights, those people are almost all *genuinely good people* (whether they admit it or not.) They're putting everything on the line to make the world a better place, and they're willing to stand up to eldritch evolutionary abominations, lovecraftian dimensional space horrors, cannibalistic vampires, and defy millennia of shitty cultural stereotyping and infighting because oripathy is *everybody's fucking problem.* Man, i wish we could pull that shit off on Earth.
Hell yeah This is exactly why I got so bored with genshin star rail and other hoyo games and most other gachas, because they lack the common grounds, for every god of destruction I need a Hercule so i could bond and connect with someone small like myself. I like ordinary characters in contrast with characters larger then life, most of my favorite characters in Arknights are 4*s hell I even started playing the game because I liked Vermeil's design so much. Thank you so much for this video to show a little light on the problem that in my opinion is very common in this and age. Interesting and unique characters are great but overdoing it gets boring and annoying very fast
When a game create a powerful character for the sake of coolness the power balance and scaling will become wack and to justify it they need to make ridiculous enemy from Godlike being to God and then King of God then God of God probably lol. BEHOLD the power of "why not". From cool become childish. Arknights character they're not trying to beat Goku. They just doing their own thing in the universe supported by solid world building. Regular people can shine in Arknights story for example Rubio from il siracussano.
![[Arknights] The Collapsals: The Demons of Terra Badly Explained](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/HkeiLP5eahY/mqdefault.jpg)
![Stromae, Pomme - “Ma Meilleure Ennemie” (from Arcane Season 2) [Official Visualizer]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/1F3OGIFnW1k/mqdefault.jpg)
"Together, they're rhodes island." Hold up, his writing is THIS fire?!
🔥🔥🔥✍️
Together we are… Arknight
@@giahuytran720 ain't that like, unironically true?
Together we are the arknights 💀🙏
@@Itashafan this truly was the arknights of our rhodes island 🗣🔥🔥🔥
How ordinary a lot of the characters are actually makes Terra a whole lot more interesting. And funnily enough, due to a general lack of ordinary characters in other games, they never come off as boring. In fact, 'epic super strong swordmaster' feels more basic (just because every game has one) than 'this girl gives people haircuts.' The IRL job representation in Arknights is underrated, even it's a rather silly thing to love.
Yup. I think that having "ordinary" PLAYABLE characters makes player experience so much more immersive. It allows us to peek at the world through eyes of normal people which also makes the worldbuilding deeper because you can see the actual (not a blatant placeholder like in most cases) everyday life of a person in said world
Limbus company giving you a playable 9/5 jobber office clerk that in the story shows up and dies in the same cutscene and is never mentioned ever again
My favorite case of this is windflit who only joined Rhodes island because all of the job applications he sent in to other companies were ignored
Or Ansel, just being too poor for every place he applied to
It's even funnier in his files, he mentioned everyone keep telling him that he don't have any "cables" to any Columbian companies so he can never get a job so easily and then he just tried his luck with Rhodes.
the millennial experience.
In my case, my favourite medic: Sussuro. Just a normal doctor. Literally, she has a normal life with her family. She studied in college, she practiced at some hospitals. She came to Rhodes in a completely normal way; for work. Simple way, simple life.
Totally my favourite. And also totally not because I listened to an amazing ASMR of her voice somewhere
@@wanderingpika2099few normal doctor in rhodes island medic division 😅
Cheesy writing isn't inherently a bad thing. That ending line was a great example of a cheesy line also being fire.
Yes, this. It's all the matter of right timing and usage.
whenever someone asked what Arknights about, i always answer with "the whole history of Terra"
the fact our story timeline is not categorized as arc but year dates before BCE till the 1100
if people think they're in for a story of 1 group they got scammed, its literally just a glorified history book of a fiction planet
one other thing, AK fodders NPC (the NPC that use the generic sprite instead of specialised individual ones, can be charming and impact the story aswell, one example is the RI mobber in Broca record, or the rival from Silverash record, they make Arknights an actual living planet)
That faceless banker lady from Jessica event was such a hateable. She was amazing.
Speaking of generic NPC dudes, I still remember that one mafia dude and his precious adopted pet dog, and the poor infected girl trying to hold a funeral for her cat from Luo Xiaohei's event. They're not really impactful in the story but they flesh out the world the story is taking place in even though they're generic NPCs
I always like the pilot of Rhodes island (I forgot he's name) he always have a role as a pilot and you bet hes always the best at it
When we'll he be playable?
@@iberis361 i would prob count them as impactful in the story (not in the greater form) in the way they actually have their own life and story to influence the reader and Arknights does alot of this
@@sw4gsmile595 considering he uses the RI fodder sprite i guess you can play him in IS AS 3* 😅
I rlly like that Yanese guy who tried to film a documentary while traveling to the rural area with Wind Chimes in A Death in Chunfen story...
Imo this character reflects how well and real AK can write 'ordinary characters' who doesn't even have their own art,
And that makes Terra not just a setting, but smth that feels real and we can relate to
I think thats how AK story is charming in its own way😅
There's also plenty of good chars in A Death in Chunfen story too! Despite it being just a mini event.
yesss that part was great
Maybe the reason I love arKnights so much is how grounded their looks are. They're not super flashy with bright colors. They're more realistic and not too fantasy-like. For example, Penance, Degenbrecher, and Mylar just wear their job uniforms, and yet they seem to be one of the most popular characters.
Well, and they're actually mechanically powerful so it helps their popularity too. But yes the more grounded design of Arknights is what makes me stick from Year 1 to this day. Which is why I don't find Endfield as appealing because they look like yet another generic overdesigned sci-fi anime romp. I already got shit like Star Rail or Xenoblade series for that.
my monitor caught on fire cuz how lit the last line was
"Together, they're rhodes island."
me typing this on my phone
While "Knights of the Ark" is likely an intended reading of Arknights, the ordinaryness of so much of the story and characters really shows; its really about those "Nights on the Ark"
Arknights is ultimately a story about hope and light in an immensely dark and depressing world. Shining the light on the average person's trials, struggles, and triumphs fits with the themes and story just as much as the incredibly fantastical. Some of my favorite ops are fairly normal individuals like Pinecone and Kroos and I adore when they get screentime and given a voice.
My favorite event story in arknights is Come catastrofes or wakes of vultures because of how grounded it is, hell, the main antagonist of that story is not even a person, but a bank.
I and the other 4 Matoimaru fans greatly appreciate the shout out.
I think ordinary characters highlight the crazy ones, making them even more interesting and intimidating, like talulah or patriot.
Players often do not realize just how much worldbuilding there is in Arknights. And just as you said, they either supplement another event story or on their own unique experiences.
Operator Records carry a portion of it, and their associated operators. But often times, players do not read them, when they're important with the operators characterization. It's often "update time, time to do Paradox Simulations. I will read their Operator Record soon (never)."
I read every single one, I adore the 4 and 3 stars ones the most.
I don't mind ordinary characters, on the contrary, some of my favorites absolutely fall into this category.
A good example could be one of my favorite sniper operators, GreyThroat. Her parents abandoned her and left her on Rhodes, not only she's nothing special but she's also rather problematic (and disliked) and she suffers from the effects of her traumatic childhood. Regardless, through training and a bit of natural talent she eventually becomes a reliable sniper operator and through her experiences working as a RI operator, she slowly begins working through her traumas, growing closer to people and getting better in the process.
Personally I find such a grounded and personal backstory quite relatable (and heartwarming in a way), I actually often prefer such characters over those that are super important, special or have some sorta overpowered abilities precisely because I feel like I can't really relate to those characters and for they often seem to lack any serious flaws which means they there's little character growth left for them to do.
Fun video, I subbed :)
I almost cried when he mentioned lose 100 hp every second enemies that attack or have been attacked by hoederer recieve 200 true damage every second.
Jordi is a very good boy.
That Pallas Edit was friggin hilarious. Been a while since i got a chuckle while watching a video essay
"Together, we are Arknights." on another note, you forgot about the Discovered Terra videos...
I did... ( T^T)
My Favorite character Asbestos just want's to fuck around and walk and climb waterfalls.
7:49 this trait of Arknight itself is what I like about the game, it make you feel that although you the Doctor doesn’t necessarily involve in every thing through big events, shit around the world in the game still happen, we got to see shit happening around the world not by the scope of the main character but some random people that we don’t even know about, we got to see a character development through the scope of the people around them and how they deal with their problems THEMSELVES not by the interference of the protagonist (I’m looking at you G games)
Really make the game feel more lively
What about Stainless? His entire point is being a regular guy (a factory engineer)
and Jaye too
"Together, they're Rhodes Island"
🔥🔥🔥✍✍
The build up to the end using Settle Into Ash was excellent. And yeah, Arknights does great work with making relatively ordinary people relevant regardless, even with their six stars. Before I knew about her actual story involvement, I thought Saileach was a Jeanne D'arc type supersoldier for Victoria, like the Victorian Nearl. But instead, for her position to actually be mostly ceremonial, and for her 'only' contribution to be inspirational? That was the real shit.
Reminds me of how all of blue archive is literally all about the uniqueness of everyday normal people in real life. Fascinating to see its the kind of concept only a gacha game could excell at
4:23 godly transition
For seaborns lol
I actually made the mistake of animating that before needing to rewrite the segment, but I couldn't just let the animation go to waste
Man I love the editing of this vid. Some characters aren't really given the privilege to have a stable source of income which makes the story realistic. Not always will the character have it easy to sustain themselves, they have to work on a daily basis just like an average person. So even if their background seem boring because most of their lifetime is spent at work, its just them doing their best to survive. It is necessary to maintain the balance of the story to show some difference of status of the characters and their imperfection
Given that having cancer in Arknights will make everybody hate you, jobs you can have borders slavery and need expensive medicine for the cancer.
Being an average joe in Arknights is a blessing.
Related but not mentioned: In Arknights, pretty much every playable Operator has actually signed a contract with Rhodes Island. Compared to other gacha games that have a notable number of characters who would only work with you in select circumstances really helps to sell how compelling Arknights world is.
Honestly I’d expect videos of this quality from somewhat big creators of 50k+ subs. My guy you’re underrated as hell.
@Doktah0701 To be fair a lot of my channel is nicheknights clears
Fantastic video and great editing.
Was playing this on my second monitor, but you got my attention so well that I had to stop what I was doing and move this to my main monitor to lock in.
Great stuff.
Not really Ordinary Characters perse but to this day I am still patiently and eagerly waiting for characters of Castle of Dreams to be expanded on, Iris and Bena are absolute sweethearts in a world full of bleak and suffering. I love the concept of Fairy Tales crossing in other medias and getting their own unique spins on such familiar tales (i.e. GuardianTales/Black Souls/SinoAlice/etc. lol)
Also that one Cautus bunny dude in suit is hot. WHERE IS HE HYPERGRYPH?! IT'S BEEN 4 YEARS AAAARGHHHH
I love Podenco. She's not that special in the grand scheme of things. Just a girl that really really likes flowers. She leaved her hometown to see and cultivate plants she never seen before, and she got the opportunity to make it her job thanks to Rhodes Island. She is very passionate in her job, and seeing her being so dedicated and happy in her life made me fall in love with her. A ordinary character surrounded by extraordinary people, and yet, she managed to be happy thanks to her passion. All she want is to share her hard work to the most people as possible hoping that it will make them smile.
Gosh, I love her so much.
I guess you could say that, um uh... the true story were the knights we arked along the way!
Amazing vid. Contrary to what was said, of exceptionally high quality too. Keep it up!
Ah yes, I too built Utage just because shes just a gal that has an implied enthusiasm over space travel and cheerful personality. Definitely.
god i like your editing
can't stop grinning here 8:30
and thanks for delivering deeper understanding of arknights.
gotta read more profiles
you could even say together they are the arknights
The oridinary characters are also very important for the thematics of the game. You can tell a story about disease, bigotry and disparity without ordinary people but having ordinary people helps remind you the player why you’re even doing anything.
Being ordinary character is something that makes you sort of extraordinary in relation to other gacha games, as weird as it sounds, but I 100% agree, ordinary people is something that makes AK so special by feeling real, it's that moment when you almost want to be a part of this world, ignoring Oripathy, racism, wars, oppression, Originium... It's not a perfect place, but it feels alive, and R6 collaboration stories make it even more real by letting you compare both world and see that even someone from our world, after spending some time here, realizes how strange yet familiar Terra is.
I love Arknights world building a lot, you know things are real when they actually use collab as a way to expand on their world with using a different IP, it's such an impressive thing
im sorry i was just too distracted by the editing why is it so good though.
also this reminded me of the quote " if everyone is special, no one is"
I find these ordinary charas far more interesting than all the fantastical charas in other games, style is great and all but you need substance too
the way the ops files are written and just the all the writing in general really help make these characters enjoyable to see
ray story part when she rolled down on to the mine with her sandbeast is perhaps one of the best ordinary ppl struggle in arknight. i felt her fear and guilt truly when the sandbeast about to die. pov truly is everything
The only reason why doc is special is because he's the last of his race....
I really think the reason why ordinary people (playable characters specifically) in arknut is very special is because the context of the game. The word of Terra is always on the brink of destruction, eldritch horror at the sea, incomprehensible cosmic entity at the north, catastrophe every now and then, rock cancer, you may even just finished building your house and 5 sec later it got destroyed because it got built on the… moving trajectory of a nomadic city ( the guy from reed story event, rip bro 🙏). So watching these people try their best to survive is kind of a thrill really(not try to be a lunatic masochist here), hence make us player invested in them
And in HSR well…, let say the biggest threat of the universe is the swarm disaster has already pass by the time the protagonist woken up so there isn’t any background to highlight character with ordinary “trait” hence we have those super OP individuals as you said in the start of the video
ncie vid and glad u put the music in the description
The last part is fire
Absolutely top tier content, thank you very much. This inspired me to go and build some 5* in my E2 backlog just for the story
Congratulations on reaching 1k subs.
Yep, there is so much npc with details in Arknights that you don't even know which character is "special" anymore. We have someone like Lemuen who look like a playable character but still is a npc and Insider who look like a npc but playable. Arknights world is alive, everyone has a story and we aren't the center of it. We just happened to passby and know their story
To be fair, Insider was in fact an NPC who broke out of NPC jail.
Which is probably why Arknights' NPC jail is so large. So many NPCs dripping with the qualifications to also be playable.
I'm very used to arknights content creators just doing showcases or gameplay so analysis on anything but the gameplay like the characters, the lore and the overall aesthetics of the game is a breath of fresh air. I personally would love to see more of these kinds of videos from arknights content creators. Keep cooking brother!!
I've had to answer that question about "What is Arknight's story?" recently, and came to the reality that almost everything in the game is the story. Aside from the obvious visual novel sections and the operator files themselves, the module descriptions are chock full of lore, the map descriptions and titles contain hints and references for those willing to look (check currently ongoing Babel event), and all items have a diverse range of lore, INCLUDING EACH FURNITURE PIECE. There's so much in game lore, that I sometimes gloss over the out-game lore too. There's multiple official comics (such as the Rhine Lab and Rhodes Kitchen), as well as rare appearances of web promotions, such as the Siesta brochure for So Long Adele.
Recently I finished reading the interview from Angelina, this month's expedition operator in IS4, and it not only cements her role in the continued development of Sami after... well... IS4 takes place, but also reveals a crazy detail about Doc's previous civilization that explains the stargates and hints at Angelina herself. Please read everything guys. You will find answers to questions you never thought about, just like watching random educational videos on RUclips.
My favorite ordinary guy is Jaye. Bro is one of the strongest 4-stars but he's just a hawker trying to earn money to buy his own home T^T
And some people in lungmen thought he was a gang member. Poor guys just sells fish
@@sgtmarshall1515 Bro just want to make an honest living but he still get caught up in gang wars and shit, somebody save my guy T-T
This is my niche in Arknights. Lore-based power level as a way to determine each operator's level and whether they able to get an E2 or not. As in, if the later story mentioned that they are more clever and experienced (for example Ceylon), then their base version won't be granted an E2.
That is also why I can't E2 Horn and the others from Londinium arc yet because the arc isn't finished yet and I haven't read the story.
I really love how you frame the overall of the story through Arknights' 'ordinary characters'.
I like how for many characters living a somewhat ordinary life is the goal in of itself, too, that being a lot of the 3*. Or characters like Shalem who run away from their backstory as fast as humanly possible and crave to become bob from accounting
Jordy
Jordy
Jordy
Cool editing and the author is a gigachad minos enjoyer? Subscribed
Great video. The biggest draw of Arknights to me is how alive the world feels as a whole and the existence of these normal people is a huge part of it. Characters not being artificially made to care about the main story plot or whatever other major event goes on in some other place of the world that is at that point completely unrelated to them. The parts of the world as a whole are portrayed in a way that shares this independence, even though there's also a decent amount of focus in international tension and how this affects them.
On thing though, don't we have an official map from the Discovered Terra videos? Which does match the annihilation map, but you get both more of the map (not saying the whole map since they added the unknown area in the north and Aegir in 3.0 so who knows if they'll add more in the future) and more border information than in the annihilation map.
@dusk252-ak In all honesty I kinda rushed the last section and completely forgot about Discovered Terra, which is very odd given I used Retraced Terra as footage.
But yeah those maps make my point moot barring needlessly specific details like absolute distance/direction
Terrorists, Sparkle is a terrorist.
Being someone that uses Quartz a lot, I can unironically confirm what we know about her mostly is that she is a wanderer that for a while, no longer had a home-she's basically one part of the massive flavor text Arknights has cooked up; with a lens we can see individual experiences of people, and what therein lies for other folks around.
And for her being ordinary, she's definitely the case of being subtly interesting. We know very little about her, she doesn't connect to anything specifically in the story, she isn't infected, she isn't impressively trained using her greatsword in an unwieldy way, and only has a rugged toned body going for her. Yet... she holds an interesting characterization for just being someone that *wants* to live despite her past and horrors around her.
"Do what you want to do. Never again regret what's gone by. Never again fear what's yet to pass... I may not know where my next destination is-
But I know where I should be going."
- Quartz
As a Matoimaru fan, I miss Matoimaru
This video is peak and you should feel proud that you made it
1:13 gambler mentioned🔥🔥🔥 let's gamble🎰🎰🎰🎰awwh dang it
11:19 yo this part is 🔥 If any mf ask me why I’m playing this game and why I think it’s good, Im throwing this part to them asap
the annihilation maps are actually canon because in the story it is highly implied that the lungmen annihiolation map was the actual battle rhodes and the LGD did against reunion. So the annihilation maps all correspond to some big battle that has happened in arknights.
Based Asa putting Adobe where it belongs
@timelessmoron Funny story I got Adobe for free throughout college but for whatever reason they didn't revoke access for literal years afterwards. I'm only switching now because I'm guessing someone at Adobe finally decided to flip the free trial over switch
Who tf are you bro?!!?
What's are these mad crazy editing skills ?!?!
The narration is peak god
The ideas of contents are hella astonishing
I just discovered you randomly on YT
You're now my new favorite AK CC ?!
Nah this is crazy dope video here
Almost dropped a tear for this.
Thank you
Nah, it's a reasonable amount of pathos! You did good on this vid.
Amazing vid! You really writing some hard-to-descride feeling what i love about Arknight! Like damn i can memorize a lot of short stories about character in Arknight that weirdly so basic yet so interesting to know because some just crossing with other characters. Also how we can deploy like 13 characters in squad really make dev can make a lot characters even they arent in story so all is fine (not like other gacha games where mostly just 3-5 chara) so i feel its all good raising this low characters. Your essay really good, just like that design perspective of Lone Trail event.
Sometimes i think of the things gg chan went through and i just sob
Came out of left field and cooked up an insanely good video essay.
Good video, I was hoping jaye got an appearance because in essence he's a finball vendor whos just really tough
Favourite case of really ordinary character in Arknights (especially for a 6 star) is Angelina (yes AngelinaGuy™️ talks about Angelina funny)
Theres a passing joke that Ive made with my friends about how Lm7 operators varry from a wanderer thats also a cerberus, to a operator based on the winged serpent of Mesoamerican Mythology, a eldritch hunter named after Typhon of greek myth, and then just delivery fox girl :P
Yes she gets an endfield appearance and a Bloodline of Combat outfit. But we've never once really gotten a proper answer on the "amazing thing she did". Even in the Angelina manga while she plays a major role in moving along the story, she is more of a passenger to tell the story of other characters from Terra and I think its neat to see what the stories of other nations are like. Closest we got to a major Angelina is important and deserves the 6 star title is IS4 monthly story likely to hint at endfield or whatever the particle creation thing likely means. Even with all that, the operator herself in her files, voicelines, oprec, and modules she is as ordinary as the people in the universe. A runaway infected girl who through a chance encounter became a messenger that would inspire others. End of the day she's just a girl who likes reading young adult novels, dressing up, trying on jewlery and has a passion for old music (hinted to be classical music based on her Ambeince Synesthesia apperance) She's just a messenger from Siracusa ❤️
But seriously tho theyve never once explained why she has gravity arts or where she got her arts staff from. Who gave the girl a particle accelerator????
I really love how ordinary April's life is. It allows me to sit back from all the seriousness and importance of characters. The world doesn't need to revolve around you, so to say.
I came here on a whim but I didn't expect peak😮
having been playing from release i already have a solid roster of (most, didn't get typhon) meta 6 stars that can deal with anything. lgd, materials, sanity in general means nothing to me now. i'm building operators for their records and files now and i love it.
fundamentally, arknights is about terra. sure, it's through the eyes of rhodes island, but in the end it's about the land, the nations and the people that inhabit them. maybe it's not so much a plot, but rather the most character-based worldbuilding project i've seen.
The power scale in Arknights shape how amazing interactions between characters are. For example, an ordinary operators casually talk to Shu, the literal fragment of godlike being. Or when people on Rhodes's HR department panics when Mlynar almost destroying their practice facility.
If I recall, annihilation maps being story related is up till Annihilation 3, 4 onwards are just "battle simulations".
Hence the periodic rotations and new "maps"
we have maps of terra , mainly from the Terra exploration video and Dungeon meshi collab
Settle into ash started playing and then I was ready to start singing... oh it's the instrumental :(...
THEN THE LYRICS CAME IN AFTER U FINISHED UR SCRIPT
You made a really good video with good intentious and you make me smile, thx :>
Another detail I like about all the Operator that is or was a child soldier is that they don't know how to read. I like how its a reminder on how war can robbed someone of something so simple and that now they are in Rhodes, they finally have a chance to learn.
It's little detail like this why I like HG approach to characters in Arknights. I think it's fine for them to not appear in a major story event, not all characters need that, as long as they themselves have something interesting to say about the world or their place in it.
Hoyoverse games (at least, the ones I played: Genshin and HSR) are about a journey and a central group of characters. Arknights is about the history of Terra and its civilizations, and the key moments within this world, and of the people, big and small, who are both influenced by and leave their mark on the events happening around them.
Another NPC who is "ordinary" yet influential is probably Cecilia. Yes, she's one of the only successful Sankta-Sarkaz children, but she's just a child and acts exactly like a child would. But through her, the other, bigger characters and the wider Lateran community are able to see a prospect of peace and unity between the Sankta and the Sarkaz, and how her innocent mind is above the generational divide between their races. And Enforcer, too, is just your average Notarial Hall worker, yet has his role to play in Guiding Ahead.
I would build my 5 stars, IF I HAD THE RESOURCES FOR IT
I love Meteor :3
She's someone who has suffered more than her fair share yet she continues to be kind and caring through it all. She has no special arts proficiency that distinguishes her, just being a 4* sniper with a knack for knocking drones out of the sky and breaking armor.
There's a sprinkle of mysticism in her with her token, being a garland that doesnt wilt, but above any kind of higher calling, she's happy to help out as much as she can by watching the kids on the landship or wanting to build a campfire area for others to socialize.
Despite, or maybe because she does not interact with the story at all outside of her own vignettes, I really really love her. Aside from her beautiful design, she's a great reminder of how operators with no exceptional abilities on par with surtr or frostnova can still shape the battlefield in a meaningful way and that doctor doesnt need to always be in the presence of giants and instead have someone as humble as a forest ranger help him with his paperwork.
8:33 10/10 accurate representation of what's happening in chp10-13 (i agree too many characters need to share the screentime, i almost forgot about the nightingale/shining subplot that's happening
11:55 yeah that's one of the reasons why ZZZ is actually the first hoyogame that i truly liked (too bad i dont have time to play that many games)
Muelseye is basically a scientist and work in PR department in the past before her boss Christine went off to space. Not to mention she is the last of her kind of Elf who bonded with Doktah who is also the last of his kind.
The Penguine logistic are basically couriers although Texas is a former Mafia daughter.
My favorite Caper is a Brat from Bolivar
This is truly the Arknights of all times
I love my ditzy ex-lighthouse keeper
fantastic video man
wtf this guy has a youtube.
6:35 she... exists
Welcome to the DaVinci Resolve team! xD
bro earned subs
Arknights appeals to me for the same reason I like to play the Imperial Guard in 40k:
It's a story about (mostly) regular people standing against the dark. It's a display of the indomitable human spirit. And better yet, in the case of Arknights, those people are almost all *genuinely good people* (whether they admit it or not.) They're putting everything on the line to make the world a better place, and they're willing to stand up to eldritch evolutionary abominations, lovecraftian dimensional space horrors, cannibalistic vampires, and defy millennia of shitty cultural stereotyping and infighting because oripathy is *everybody's fucking problem.*
Man, i wish we could pull that shit off on Earth.
Good stuff, best wishes to channel
Hell yeah
This is exactly why I got so bored with genshin star rail and other hoyo games and most other gachas, because they lack the common grounds, for every god of destruction I need a Hercule so i could bond and connect with someone small like myself.
I like ordinary characters in contrast with characters larger then life, most of my favorite characters in Arknights are 4*s hell I even started playing the game because I liked Vermeil's design so much. Thank you so much for this video to show a little light on the problem that in my opinion is very common in this and age. Interesting and unique characters are great but overdoing it gets boring and annoying very fast
The one who never read the story will not get it how cruel terra is
When a game create a powerful character for the sake of coolness the power balance and scaling will become wack and to justify it they need to make ridiculous enemy from Godlike being to God and then King of God then God of God probably lol.
BEHOLD the power of "why not".
From cool become childish.
Arknights character they're not trying to beat Goku. They just doing their own thing in the universe supported by solid world building.
Regular people can shine in Arknights story for example Rubio from il siracussano.
Me E2-ing Lutonada, Firewatch, and Flint KNOWING WELL I'm not gonna use them that often. We ARE Rhodes Island 😭😭
Minos event when 😢
10/10 video