Alters Ruined Arknights Anniversaries (But Silence Alter is Awesome)

[@SUPAH_SUPAH_SUPAH]

IMPORTANT ANNOTATION: Alright, so, I've been getting a lot of comments about this video. Tons of criticism. Which, you know, it's good. It's a discussion. Video has a 10% dislike ratio, which is double what I usually get, around 3 to 5%. Most of the complaints, from what I saw, were about Texalter, despite her admittedly very small role in the video. So, I'll go through the issues presented in this video about pre-Silence Alters. And of course, f--cking obviously, not every alter fits all of them. These are a general guideline on why pre-Silence Alters as a concept kinda sucked. Every operator if looked at in a vacuum is going to fit more or less. So, let's look at Texas Alter. >No proper Set-Up, they self-justify themselves **PROPER SET-UP ISN'T EQUAL TO THE FACT YOU COULD PREDICT THE ALTER COMING OUT, AND IT ISN'T EQUAL TO SOMETHING ABOUT THE CHARACTER BEING LEFT VAGUE** I've seen a lot of people mention Code of Brawl. Which is true, her deals with the mafia were mentioned there. There's also Lappland mentioning the "old Texas" a lot. However, like a comment said, I feel like a lot of commenters were confusing "Setting up a character for growth", with "Being able to predict an Alter would come out". Essentially every alter beside Skalter, since she was the first one, and Ch'alter, since she was Ch'alter, was very easy to see coming and predict. But that was never my point. Yes, something WAS set-up for Texas, but it's not what I meant, which was setting up character growth and development. Otherwise, you are conceding that any character with anything vague about them is good enough for an alter. Simply pointing at a character and saying "There's something going on with them" isn't enough to justify an alter in my eyes. Since if you want to explore characters further you have skins, you have event narratives... You really need a good reason to make a whole new unit. >Cash Grab First, Cool Character Second + Rich Get Richer I've seen some people argue this point is victim of confirmation bias on my part. I don't like Texalter therefore she must be soulless. And I can see where you're coming from. Texalter is probably the least offending of this, beside Nealter, which went completely unmentioned in the original video, I concede that Nealter is probably the best pre-Silence Alter. Still, I could argue a huge reason for HG to give Texas the alter was motivated by her popularity, but at that point I would be saying that giving an alter to someone popular is implicitly bad, which it isn't. So I am willing to concede this one doesn't fit Texalter. She also isn't a 6* getting a 6* Alter, so that's good. >Lore reasons for them feel backwards engineered This one is purely subjective. I feel Zarro just pulling up and being like "Hey remember when I made you survive a genocide, come with me now!" is cheap, comes out of nowhere and is backwards engineered. But I can see why you wouldn't think that. >Feel corporate and soulless Again, purely subjective. The video was an opinion piece, with opinions in it. So a lot of what I didn't like about Alters was subjective. I do feel Texalter is pretty soulless. Her character doesn't grow a lot, her design is very weak in my opinion, they just put her in a suit. But again I can see why you wouldn't think this. But I look at her and I get nothing. I feel sad. Texalter makes me forget how to smile. >Featurecreep Accellerationism This one is just true. Out of everything here, this is the one point that you cannot deny. Texas Alter is the poster child of the fact this game is pushing more and more into a DPS direction, which isn't healthy. Her and Yato Alter are speeding up the process of Featurecreep, by cranking the DPS to 10 million. >Took the Limited Operator spot Again, this one is just plainly true. She's the limited. And to me that's very lame. I did see a comment that argued the opposite, though. That comment argued that things like W, Rosmontis and Mumu are actually MORE money-grubby compared to Alters. They argued it was something like "Hey, don't you like this character? Well you better roll they are limited!" And yeah I can see what they mean. But on the other hand, it is undeniable that the "limited operator" spot is special. You want someone special in there, someone important to some extent. Objectively, it doesn't mean anything, and I get that. It's like SCP-001, number 1 doesn't mean anything but it feels special to the people. So, I would argue, that since this spot is special it should be given to special operators, not Alter number 6. And Mumu fits the bill perfectly. We've been waiting 4 years to get her, it feels natural she's the limited, almost. Again, this is all about feeling and subjectiveness. So, here's what we're left with: >1 point that definitely doesn't fit Texalter >2 points that fit without a shadow of a doubt >And 3 points that are subjective and up to opinions Still, I have done a terrible, unforgivable crime. I was cringe. I had a severe and continuous lapse in my judgement. Again, the video was an opinion piece, with opinions in it, and it was clear by just listening to it, I think. Still, I imagine that from this channel you've come to expect more "rooted" and factual analyses, and that's what I'll keep providing in the future. Apologies if the previous video seemed aimless or too up in the air. I still stand by my opinion that Texalter s--cks balls though. *ABOUT WAWA (THE ARTIST SHOWCASED):* The point had nothing to do with HIM in particular, but with the general concept of "seeing something a lot of times". It was a 20 second clip in a 12 minute video. Not only this, but calling it trashtalking is disingenuous. I was explaining the point of "seeing something a lot of times", and right now there is a popular artist that has been doing just that: The same thing a lot of times. So, to show the point better, I showed his work and teased him about it. Nowhere in the 20 seconds do I say anything negative about the work or the artist, only the plain fact that there is a lot of it. There was no ill intent, and saying there was is just dishonest. *ABOUT THE 5 STAR ALTERS:* There is literally no point in mentioning them in a video about alters from Anniversary events. And when I did mention one, it was positively. *ABOUT REED ALTER:* Again, no point mentioning her in a video about 6-Stars from Anniversaries. She is just in her own sphere. But let's mention her anyways. It is true Reed Alter is very much comparable to Silence Alter, but she has another very big issue. Her existence implies Alters can now show up in non-Anniversary events as the main 6-Star of the event, which would only further the burn-out 10-fold. Thankfully, it seems HG did not follow up on it.

[@januszpolak254]

You not gonna mention how you just randomly started trashtalking random artist for no reason ?

[@SUPAH_SUPAH_SUPAH]

@@januszpolak254 It was a *20 second* clip in a 12 minute video. Not only this, but calling it trashtalking is disingenuous. I was explaining the point of "seeing something a lot of times", and right now there is a popular artist that has been doing just that: The same thing a lot of times. So, to show the point better, I showed his work and teased him about it. Nowhere in the 20 seconds do I say anything negative about the work or the artist, only the plain fact that there is a lot of it. Calling it trash talking or even being mean is just dishonest.

[@AvantsPianoScores]

Went in game to check the release order of alters to reply to this comment, saw the new stainless banner, decided to drop a 10, whoops I’m one of the few stainless owners now

[@asteraceae6260]

i just don't understand why this video exists when only your point of limiteds is true for a majority of alters (but feels more like a problem with the limited system itself), featurecreep is true for 2-3 of them (and is also not a problem specific to alters), and the rest appear as arbitrary reasons made to deride alters as a whole? your opinion on reed seems to reinforce this, even when they're done "right" in the same way as silence alter and don't fall under any of your opinions or other observations you still dislike them appearing in non-anni events, and i fail to understand that opinion. what's the problem with expanding a character's lore and personality rather than releasing a brand new 6*? i guess it's just a fundamental difference in expectations. i feel like alot of arknight's characters could do with more depth rather than releasing a brand new 6* that feels shallow, and the current pace of alter releases fills that need for me. i would definitely like to see more non-6* operators get alters, though.

[@SUPAH_SUPAH_SUPAH]

@@asteraceae6260 Believe it or not, the point of the opinion piece video is to share the opinion. 1) As explained, said opinion is partially rooted in subjectivity. 2) You seem to completely fail to understand the concept of "burnout", on which the whole video and annotation stands on. it is not something objective you can point to. If you see something a lot of times, you get tired of it. If Reed Alter meant more alters, that means more burnout. I can't point at something and say "this is where the subjective feeling of 'being tired of them' comes from", implicitly it is not a feeling that can exist in objectivity.

[@cyrleaozora4173]

Guys don't be fooled this is just SUPAH's way to bait HG into making a Gummy Alter

[@skadimudrock7183]

I want gummy alter too

[@skadimudrock7183]

And I think 3 stars,2 stars and 4 stars must have their alters first

[@gabrielsanandres537]

What's that gonna be? Gummy the Carnivore? With the Centurion Guard archetype?

[@skadimudrock7183]

@@gabrielsanandres537 it will be called as "Gummy the apex"

[@gabrielsanandres537]

@@skadimudrock7183 Dude, we all know that Kal'tsit was the true Apex Predator in prehistoric times 😂😂😂

[@WolfcatcherWolf]

I hate to be that guy, but I disagree with several points you made in this video: >Rich get Richer While this is true for Skadi and Ch'en, and to a lesser degree, Nearl Specter and Texas, that is certainly *NOT* true for Gavial, Reed and Yato. These last three alters we got were all rather unpopular characters, and while I do agree with ">No proper Set-up" on these three, this brings me to my second point, or as I like to call it... Suffering from success. If a character has a proper set-up, with many lore events hyping them up, it's *inevitable* that they also end up becoming popular. You can't complain about characters having no set-up, and also wanting to have unpopular characters getting all the alters. They are almost mutually exclusive, the more a character is represented, the more popular they become. For example, if we were to get a Mostima Alter, I wouldn't be surprised: she is heavily hinted to be holding back her powers, and since she was at the center of 2 (DUE) separate events, she's also popular. Or also Siege Alter: she is the focus of the current main story, and it wouldn't surprise me at all for her to get an alter. What I mean is: having a popular operator getting an alter, doesn't make it bad writing or cashgrab. Popular operators are usually popular because they have a significant part in the story, and that is what you call "a proper set-up" Detto questo, ti voglio bene Supah, saluti dalla Svizzera. 🙌

[@PlatinumKrown]

I agree with what you said and you made a good point, imagine the confusion if suddenly Cuora had an alter with her memory back. Zero build up and no explanation for a character who hasn't been in story or event. They (HG) only alter characters with lore and / or popularity, and I agree that it would be difficult or impossible to alter a less-known or unpopular character. Personally, I think Chen alter has done irreparable damage to SUPAH, he brings her up almost as much as gummy now.

[@MojocatAMVs]

I now need Mostima Alter

[@lynling7830]

Add shining with her beautiful healing staff

[@Khroniclas]

Overall I do agree with your sentiments. I especially appreciate adding more nuance to the "rich getting richer" statements, even if I would not call it a counterargument since it is a handful of popular operators vs 2 non-popular ones. Yes, Gavial was actually rather popular to begin with so that only leaves 2 non-popular 6* alters. She lagged in gameplay popularity a bit, but had the screentime and background lore part locked down very well.

[@autumnleaf4873]

@@PlatinumKrown Do you mean it's difficult to make 6 star alters for unpopular characters? Because Greyy got an alter first of all people, and he's not very popular and in a terribly undertuned class (as of this writing). He's also on a banner with Dorothy, who's more of a fun character to use instead of meta, so kinda hard to gauge what the intention was there.

[@monchete9934]

Lowlight really tapped onto the meme of "so called alter haters when their favourite niche unit gets one" (looking at you, Gavialter) and struck gold with the welfare added on top.

[@Salim-RS]

While I do disagree on a few alters not having prior setup, there is one thing we need to realize with the immortality that Silence gives... You can Aak ANYONE now, imagine the memes man.

[@swift-pawedteif386]

Well. That’s wonderful. My furry friend has more… allies; frenemies, targets? Targets.

[@omniscientcommenter3271]

Atk speed go bbbbbbbrbrrbrbrrbrbrbrbrbrbrbrrbrbrbrbrbrbrrrrbrrbrbrbrbrbrbrbrbrbrbrgrbbrrrbr

[@annapocalypse6382]

don't even need the immortality, the extra shelter effect from her S2 is enough for most every OP to survive being Aak'd

[@Khroniclas]

Pretty sure we could already Aak everyone with Skalter + Shining?

[@omniscientcommenter3271]

@@Khroniclas There’s a difference She’s FREE.

[@neonayse8803]

4:27 From what I remember from the story, Texas stated along the lines as she was beating up Reunion members "I used to wield two [swords]." Besides her epoque skin, was that really justifiable for Texas Alter? AND TEXAS ALTER IS STILL FROM THE PENGUIN LOGISTICS FACTION! She just switched weapons as if she was Chen Alter, but imagine how weirder Chen Alter would be if she decided to not quit Lungmen Guard with that skimpy outfit...

[@SUPAH_SUPAH_SUPAH]

"I used to wield two swords" line was very vague since she literally rains a bunch of swords with her skill 2 I thought it referred to that before the alter

[@calamar8199]

doesn't matter because it should've been lappland

[@katrinecondukta7447]

Well i mean, silence alter just took her glasses out and got a new staff.

[@kyarumomochi5146]

@@calamar8199 Lappy will OBVIOUSLY get an alter dude Texas event was litterally a big lappland alter set up

[@lynling7830]

@@SUPAH_SUPAH_SUPAH how about lapplands obsession with texas that she wants her old self back. Pretty sure thats pretty enough a setup for an alter. I myself am waiting for when shining unsheathe that damn sword and became a guard or a phalanx caster 🤣. Just read the pinned, so basically it just doesn't meet "your" requirements for an alter 🤣. I mean yeah those points you've mentioned are valid but you need to understand in their perspective, thats too much effort. Not saying they should do no effort alters but your expectations are quite too high, especially not everyone reads the story of a gacha game that deep, i could even say video game story in general. Add to the fact that they release contents pretty much every month and will be forced to have shit ton of characters making your expectations for an alter too hard to make, those requirements are asking for too much to be always done regularly. If people are willing to get dead months then alters can be planned more carefully and im pretty much expecting that i will have same level of expectations as you for alters but with a gacha game especially with too many chars, a simple "he/she used to be" is enough of a justification for an alter.

[@momsaccount4033]

Maybe Supah will finally acknowledge a Gummy Alter if it ends up being like Silence Alter

[@gerdkerman9849]

As if that's gonna happen

[@auselessfish8803]

I think skalter is the 2nd best alter because she is different from other alters by being an antagonist

[@SUPAH_SUPAH_SUPAH]

in my world every alter is a villain.............

[@asheqabeer1798]

she is the best alter IMO for thar reason along with the fact she was the antagonist and an op from a parallel timeline

[@cefrinaldi8060]

For me skalter is the best alter since we do felt like she IS an alter. And not normal operator changing clothes. Skalter skill, voice and visual fit her 'different persona' lore😊

[@Sairento-kun]

@@asheqabeer1798 And Imo she is one of the worst, not so interesting overall :V

[@asheqabeer1798]

@@Sairento-kun considering texas specter and chen alter exist I'd like to disagree

[@jhonlhorbae9430]

I will only pull for another Alter if it is Frostleaf. Now that's a character development.

[@SUPAH_SUPAH_SUPAH]

Qiubai entering the room:

[@swift-pawedteif386]

@@SUPAH_SUPAH_SUPAH the Ines at home? I guess I don’t know her kit

[@darkdude1996ify]

@@swift-pawedteif386 Her kit is Frostleaf Alter

[@asheqabeer1798]

@@swift-pawedteif386 litterally frostleaf with the damage potential of surtr at 0 res

[@koutaroubokuto9187]

Eyja and Swire Alter this anniv 💀

[@balkanmontero]

This just sparked an Idea. What if they make a Myrtle Alter not because of her lore but how vital she has been to doctors since her release?

[@SUPAH_SUPAH_SUPAH]

It would be curious to see how HG would make a Myrtle Alter. On one hand, she needs to be OP to live up to OG Myrtle's reputation, on the other hand, if she is better than OG Myrtle she completely breaks the game

[@mr.clevertrick8710]

What if HG just gives more lore to her instead? She already is the best unit in the game, touching on her gameplay or making more out of it will just damage the game

[@af2547]

@@SUPAH_SUPAH_SUPAH just Myrtle with 3 block, ez

[@voices0000]

@@SUPAH_SUPAH_SUPAH Once alters can be used together with their baselines, the pressure of making them upgrades will be way lower, and they go more towards filling out interesting niches, or develop the character. Looking at Greyy alter, they don't seem to mind giving great designs to units that aren't all that good if they fit the character's story. Also, once her new skin comes out, Ch'alter will be part of the Sui timeline, she'll have some kind of real story justification, and by that time her power level will look fairly reasonable. Nature will heal. In 2 years it'll feel like a distant fever-dream that she was released a year early and with only her summer skin.

[@swift-pawedteif386]

@@voices0000 I would say that you are wrong and that you could never be right. But. I’m already waiting for the skin so I can add her to my roster. I got her with the free pulls during her event. I skipped hard on that banner.

[@lolaandjoe123]

Didn't Texalter and Gavialter kinda get set up before their respective events? Just by lore they're characters that are generally 'holding back' or not fighting in their natural role. Shining fits here too when that eventuallyyy happens. Saria too! Chalter evil. NtrK was decently set up in Maria Nearl. Reed is story.jpg. Specter KINDA but she's always been an amnesiac, even if the methods by which she was cured were wonky, it was inarguably set up in lore. Chalter and Skadi seemed like the only ones that fit that critique and Skadi is generally well liked right? All alter hate just comes down to Chalter leaving a bad taste in everyones mouths :(

[@SUPAH_SUPAH_SUPAH]

My brother in christ I literally specifically mentioned Gavial as being set-up

[@lolaandjoe123]

@@SUPAH_SUPAH_SUPAH Pog! Then if you count Gavial as having setup then all of them have setup outside of Chalter and Skalter right? Maybe NTRk too since in another comment you did mention not considering MN gave her enough real setup (Her gear is made by Maria so imo that's enough setup and justification for the alter)

[@luisgabriel7565]

I disagree with Texas, to me it always felt she left siracusa cause she didn't like the mafia, even tho ye it was said she was a strong mafia member, but her leaving and being more "grounded" felt right (i like Tex alter but not that much). Shinning alter is very hype and in waiting to it, just don't be limited and we roll. For Saria tho, i feel like she doesn't really need an alter... Like ye, we know she is holding back being a protector, but the thing is she herself states that. She likes doing that, to me Saria feels like a complete character that don't need development, just act as a support role for other Rhine labs ops like Silence and Ifrit

[@huynguyenanh2820]

In my opinion, there should be a higher standard for what "proper set-up" means for alter. Saria, Gavial holding back and Nearl not the best weapon are not valid reasons for me, because a change in fighting style does not always come with major changes in personality or ideology. In comparison, Silence's ideological changes already occurred, is depicted through the 2 events she appeared in and especially the Rhine lab manga, and Silence alter is probably the culmination of that. This makes her the best developed alter in my eyes.

[@swift-pawedteif386]

@@lolaandjoe123 relax.

[@SUPAH_SUPAH_SUPAH]

My deepest apologies for the clickbait title. I will do it again. Though, it is true that so many alters kind of ruined the game for me. Join the Discord! discord.gg/superincorporated There are no right wingers! I scared them away with the trans rights emotes! How cool is that?! ANNOTATIONS: I've always hated Alters. From Skadi Alter to Specter Alter to Texas Alter. I was very firm in my belief Alters were inherently bad. And making a good one would be impossible. Then Silence Alter came and spanked me. If all future Alters will be like her, the future is looking very bright for this game. 4th Anni stream had a lot of passion put into it, it's evident. It really felt like a love letter to this game. While events like Il Siracusano are good, I never felt the same passion from the developers that I felt from Chapter 8 or this 4th Anni Stream. Good stuff.

[@yoyo-zr1ni]

Apology is admitting you were wrong and correcting your actions. You didn't so your apology is nothing but shit lmao, but go off you'll get that sweet attention and money. You never fail to not complain and cry on the most unimportant shit and to add you promote political agenda about a made up idealogy that brings nothing but harm. You sir are the pinnicle of dogshit. God this is why the world is gonna end sooner than expected.

[@billlee3851]

What about Reed alter?

[@yogi_gs]

Gummy alter?

[@asheqabeer1798]

what about reed alter and kroos alter ?

[@yoyo-zr1ni]

Apology is admitting you were wrong and correcting your actions. You didn't so your apology is nothing but shit lmao, but go off you'll get that sweet attention and money. You never fail to not complain and cry on the most unimportant shit and to add you promote political agenda about a made up idealogy that brings nothing but harm. You sir are the pinnicle of dogshit. God this is why the world is gonna end sooner than expected.

[@Mister3h]

For me the introduction of alters and limited operators meant to just roll in those banners and forget the rest. If I wanted a non-limited operator I would painfully roll for it, or just suck it up and pray it showed up in the limited banner.

[@kevinseraphin5456]

"don't have a reason to exist", procede to cite Shining and Gavial as a good teased exemple, but not Reed for some reason, wich was teased for a long time as well. "they only give attention to operator that are already popular"... Yeah the MF just definitly forgot Reed was also originaly in the game... You know, Reed, the non limited 6star alter of un not so popular 5star that was teased to havea high importance in the story years before we reached that point, wich check ALL the same cases as Silence's does... like c'mon... "they FEEL like cash grab first and cool character second+Rich get Richer" THIS my friend is what we call a confirmation bias, just like the flat-earthers FEEL like the earth is flat so it can't be a globe... that plus with the part where you ignore the pre-existing exemples that doesn't suit that narative... Yes, i'm sorry but Gavial and Reed and even Yato(tho her alter is a collab so it's a different case are WAY less popular than Silence Also alter being the limited spot is an issue for you, but I'd rather have original operator NOT being the limited ones, as I can live without alters, not everyone have your opinion on the matter... Making the popular character like W and Mumu limited feels way more like a cash-grab to me, as a: " hey look this operator you like, fuck you you can't have it, spend 300pulls next time she show up". At least when limiteds are alters, you can still get the original if you just like the operator. And last point, "the passion": How, how do you not see the passion from il siracusano? the fake ads where there as well, in stead of the "old disney song" as you call it, it was one lore video inspired by the godfather and one animation inspired by old spy movie/show intro, how does it show any less passion? and I'm not even a fan of Texas or Lappland, but fuck god I love the 30's mafia aesthetic. Once again, it sound like a pure confirmation bias, you don't like these specific alter so they HAVE to be soulless cashgrab otherwise you're a baseless hater... but there's nothing wrong being a baseless hater, so am I, I hate Texas alter from the bottom of my heart, but I can still see all the passion they put into this event.

[@SUPAH_SUPAH_SUPAH]

Pasted: Reed is another issue entirely. She meant Alters were going to show up in non-anniversary events as the main 6-Star, which would've made the burn-out exponentially worse. Thankfully HG seems to not be following up on it. She doesn't have most of the issues in this video, but presented a different, equally as bad one

[@dspellcaster1027]

Personally I don't dislike alters, I just dislike the way they are implemented. I agree with with a vast majority of your points. I think if a character undergoes character growth it should be done similarly to Amiya in some capacity not just "brand new unit and best of their achetype." Though even though I say this if Mostima alter ever happens...POT 6 HERE I COME!

[@kyarumomochi5146]

Problem is that litterally only alter is actually skalter Outside community namings NONE of the other characters are alternative versions of themselves they are THE same person in SAME time frame

[@dspellcaster1027]

@@kyarumomochi5146 this is also very true.

[@akety3570]

theyre really holding us by the balls huh

[@gachivalantine3792]

Specter alter is also explicitly stated as being a completely other person.

[@3takoyakis]

You know HG using amiya as testing water to release alter right? Bcs NONE of alters come after that having same class. HG aren't as generous as you think. They are sneaky snake who always hiding under "AK is F2P bcs game is clearable with 3star" Fckn 3 YEARS and NO QOL updates.

[@Truck-kun11]

In the case of Texas, it has already been teased that she had a dark past for a long time, mainly with Lappland always saying how she wants the "Old Texas" back, which in my opinion justifies the Alter that gives us an idea of how Texas used to be.

[@chilledkhaos]

Yeah Texas alter has been set up literally from the beginning of the game

[@kyarumomochi5146]

True i feel like texas was an absolutelly well made alter on all ends weird that he was harsh about it

[@13nguyeninhthienkhoi87]

COB and Lappland's files did something ,yes, but how could they justify putting Texas in a suit and make her a fast redeploy A proper set-up should have been Zarro appearing at the end of COB and say smth like "ayoo stop fooling around we need to get back to Siracusa and you ditch the penguins right now" to Texas

[@13nguyeninhthienkhoi87]

A dark past doesn't justify an alter . Then we would have got Sesa alter just because he killed his entire crew

[@kek_9866]

​​@@13nguyeninhthienkhoi87"A dark past doesn't justify a alter" true But you know what else is true? A popular character with a dark past + has alot of fans will highly be a alter Comparing a mundane character like sesa to someone like Texas is Abit of a reach "Doesn't justify a alter" is a dumb take , the only one that can justify an alter is HG themselves not us

[@lucahisgay2511]

Supah you said that but texas has already been hinted to belong to the mafia before hand with old ties coming back to bite her like lappland in code of brawl. Did you consider the fact that most of them feels like they're engined backwards is because you didn't hit up the lore enough?

[@SUPAH_SUPAH_SUPAH]

I specifically mentioned Zarro and her deal with him, while Code of Brawl does set up the mafia situation in Siracusa, and that Texas has some role in it, it doesn't set up the whole of her justification to put on a suit and be a fast redeploy Thusly a "proper" set-up would've been something like Zarro showing up and being like "Eyo Texas stop FOOLING around you gotta come with me we gotta do a thing"

[@lolaandjoe123]

@@SUPAH_SUPAH_SUPAH Texas 'holding back' all the time is a really consistent character trait though? Texas 5* 'slacking' ---> Mafia event ---> Texas 'trying' suit. It feels like there was build-up inherent to a lot of these?

[@Harry-mp5mk]

You know what the funny thing is? The first Alter doesnt even Self Justified herself on her own event. SkadiBard/Ishar M'la isnt a thing in Under Tides, Skadi just change her outfit to infiltrate, thats it Ishar M'la come out a lot Later in a "WHAT IF" Story of IS#3. LoL

[@terry5183]

Ok, let's talk. And play a bit of a devil's advocate. I don't feel the same way you do about alters. You say the coolest characters get them and that it feels corporate as fuck. True, but that is one way of making money. You give people shit they actually want to spend dollars on. Remember, you decided to play a gacha game. Alters can give more reason to expand on a given character's story and lore. Sometimes it feels bullshit, I won't deny that, but the alters we have feel alright. Starting with Gavial. No reason lorewise? Although the story was, well mid at best, we now have an in game representation of Gavial's power level. I don't have to read about her being strong, I can literally see her holding 3 lanes for me at once. Same with Texas, her Vanguard role was boring, fitting for a penguin logistic character, but boring. Why does everyone fear her so much? Why is Lappland, who outpowers her so easily in game, so obsessed with her? Texalter shows you exactly why. People want to learn more about the world. Alters are a great way to show you more. Texas will take us to the heart of Siracussa, Nearl took us to Kazimierz, Silence takes us to the fucking space now. The one thing I do hate is that they are often limited. That shit sucks, yes. I still did not change my mind about spark. It should be 150 at the most. Maybe HG could put more into them but I it's pretty great so far. Then again, I am not a day 1 player and I'm still full of curiosity, like a young boy discovering "big boobs" typed in google is just a prelude. After all that I will say something that will help us reach a common ground. I will gladly forget about alters if we get more awesome NPC turned into operators. They have lore reasons to be there, they are awesome and people love them. Addendum: people who actually read the fucking story love them. Which is much less than we think. We have to wait and see if Silence Alter succeeds and people like her after the release. As of now I am pretty sure most are interested in Holoheyak after watching that one clip of her smiling. And those who give a shit about the story will roll for MuMu. Anyway, enough rambling, time for daily hopium of Shining and Siege alter announcements.

[@hug-the-raccoon]

I do agree that alters need to be hinted way earlier so that it feels more justified & satisfying. But I also feel like it's a tough task to setup every alters from the beginning when everything constantly changes. I personally think they did good on setting up Gavial, followed by Texas. Anything but giving the operator a watergun.

[@Gutzahn]

I am super the opposite. I think the alters besides Ch'en and Grey have pretty much all been a good idea and I think we should definitely continue with this release reate. Besides me not aggreing with which alters were setup to which degree the way you put it, I think its both more fun and more healthy for the story+game to do a healthy rate of alters. Gonna explain my reasoning here in two main points. One point is building up hype and pathos. They are going to release characters. if its someone we don't know at all and they bring them in without lube it can often feel like they are coming out of nowhere especially if they are in positions where its weird they weren't mentioned before and weren't relevant so far. Less of an issue when opening up a completely fresh location and plot thread but still if you know nothing about them all yo uhave is surface level appeal which can be cool but rarely is as hype as getting a release that has some form of buildup to it. Now you can say, but what about NPC jail characters that get a release? Like our water elf, Mlynar or Ines. To which I have no counterpoint, I tihnk bringing in such characters is also very cool and I actually rate them just as highly as a good alter. One doesn't have to negate the other. And they also fit with my next point. The second point is the inevitable dilution of screen time and such. In terms of business model, they will keep releasing operators. Its just not a thing thats going to stop. But if all big releases focus on completely new people, we will never ever get the time to give anyone the time of day for more development, more central roles and just letting them do more cool shit. Alters reduce the rate at which this is a problem which helps with the pace of the storylines. And while I understand the 6* alter for a 6* argument in theory, that is just something that like... is that a problem? I think I just don't have the gene in me to care about that one. But hey, that doesn't mean i am not happy for you being excited about Silence Alter :D While I don't agree that she is the better pick among the three, its not like I don't think she is cool.

[@cob-codeofbrawl7668]

I rather get alters with a decent background/meaning (chalter? what is that?) than rushed characters without good development

[@junichid2]

Supah’s gna love the anniversary event after this

[@spiderdude2099]

Imagine if gummy alter was some off the wall class, like AOE caster. I actually love when the character’s base class is either a natural logical progression of their original class like hibiscus going from single target medic to incantation medic, or just absolutely batshit insanely different and makes no sense.

[@yosi2142]

admittedly most of the alters had some build up or an open end they could build off of in their operator files but Im glad it wasnt Saria. Saria is holding back but her picking up the gloves again wouldnt be character growth while ifrit has her coming to terms with her demon headmate but six star getting an alter is lame

[@radionukeunyu412]

Yea I love Reed alter but I HATE how she was introduced and obtained, she isn't limited so that's good ig?? but she was the focus for an entire fucking chapter in AK and instead of letting her character develop in the main story they did a side thing with her and her sister. When chapter 12 comes out and we see her sister again it's gonna be really confusing whether Reed's event happened after or before chapter 12, and how prevalent the time gap is for chapter 12, ignore me commenting on a 12 month old video.

[@echigokurogane8612]

I’ve said before that I do think the 5 star alters are inherently, on a basic and consistency level, better designed alters than the other ones, and that now extends to Silence. I get what you mean on the pre-Silence alter part. Lavalter and Krooster are the only ones that had any build up to their releases. Also the simple fact that they are alters of 3 stars who since the beginning were already designed story wise to have a lot of growing to do as people, so alters for them are a no brainer.

[@lolaandjoe123]

How do you define build-up to release? Maria Nearl was inarguably a build-up to Nearlter, and if you count lore as build-up then a bunch more count too.

[@Khroniclas]

WDYM, Gavial, Nearl and Texas each had buildup to getting an alter in their background lore. Only Spalter, Chalter and Skalter did not. AFAIK Silence did not have any buildup either?

[@akety3570]

@@Khroniclas Grani and the knights's treasure (1st event ever) mentions specter's illness, and Under Tides gave an hint regarding how Specter would regain her old self.

[@Taku.l]

​@@KhroniclasSilence had build up from the Rhine manga

[@Khroniclas]

@@Taku.l I see.

[@jhoo_]

i think Nearl is one of the better done alters, she had setup (true that she has a bit of story convinience bit either way)

[@jhoo_]

texas is just the same texas, it's so lame just her with two swords

[@Schwarzo]

I agree with your points a lot, the game really had a stale feeling. Exept Nearl the Radiant Knight all other 6 star Alters felt lackluster. Nearl had her interesting Kazimierz Lore going for her, like we knew that she was an amazing fighter and fought in the Kazimierz Major. So her Alter felt really genuine unlike most other 6 star alters. I love your music choice when you talked about Silence, that persona song hits hard. I also love that Lowlight bit, replayed it several times.

[@lilgoblin3687]

i believe the same goes for specter alter, she had amnesia and it made full sense for her to remember or discover new and old tricks and have all new voice lines and all that, he also made a point to call Specter the unchained a completely worthless operator, even though she is the only good operator of a category (doll keeper) and is a very strong and unique operator, and on his lore criticism, the explanation they had in the event of her seaborne cells fighting off the originium in her spine more effectively allowing her to recover from her state when she got closer to the ocean (the domain of the eldritch creatures of witch she shares blood with) does make fair sense (as much sense as eldritch fantasy can make sense at least), if he is confused about the whole mirror thing, specter has small lapses in and out of herself during the event and only becomes seemingly stable after she interacts with the mirror, to witch either the mirror is partially infused with arts, or its just a whole looking inwards and finding your self thing, to witch you can argue if that's cliché or not, but the fact of the matter is that Supah is just blatantly wrong about this one.

[@januszpolak254]

@@lilgoblin3687 The biggest problem I have with Spalter is that she is pretty much exact same operator as OG Specter except no AOE + doll.

[@lilgoblin3687]

@@januszpolak254 ...in a game where most characters have most of the time just their base stats and then a single skill they bring with them, thats a way bigger difference then you give it credit for, then there is also some fun niches with skill 1 for example, with how you can heal mudrock and serter and other similar operators, then you have ofc, skill 2 witch is like og specter skill 2 but single target instead of hitting 3 but has way more dps ending in her doll form witch slows and hurts the enemy, and after i got the modules some times i activate the skill to get her to switch to doll for the big aoe damage and slow, then ofc there is skill 3 witch allows you to attack blocked enemies and deal massive damage to enemies if they have higher hp then you, so if im honest thats just not true, it has some roots in the old design but thats part of why i like it, it makes sense for the character and its a realy fun and strong operator to use, not busted like surter, but very reliable. you are allowed to have your own opinion tho ofc, but this is my argument to why i think you should change your opinion

[@azeria1]

​@@lilgoblin3687 also her being a doll keeper was foreshadowed with her E2 story where Suzaren makes her a doll for Christmas

[@kyarumomochi5146]

Texas alter was even more of a perfect fit Nearl didnt even do much in her own event she practically had no personality development and just wields a spear and thats it while texas alters event completely builded 2 new characters alongside texas and lappy even further while building siracussa from non existent to its current state

[@KrisStab]

I think the whole point of Alters should be to "fix" issues with the non alters ops. Something more drastic than the modules. Admittedly some of the alters are just a cash ins on popularity of an op, but still i can't be too mad at HG, since popularity of an op makes it less risky for them to create alter of it and boosts the positive reception probability. I do agree that ops with interesting mechanics should be made more often, im really waiting on fear mechanic that scatters enemies or make them backtrack their path. Ultimately its a conundrum between, do you want to use op that deals purely DPS or a buffer/debuffer type op that may or may not provide similar value. Thats a thing i have been wondering about ever since i picked the H. Horn in monster hunter, do i play support or do i switch to dps set up.

[@SnowieThenVivian]

Only 2 (Skadi and Ch'en) out of 14 alters are originally 6*. That really isn't as big of a problem as it was portrayed. Originally 5 stars: Nearl, Specter, Texas, Reed, Silence Originally 4 stars: Gavial, Greyy Originally 3 stars: Lava, Kroos, Hibiscus, Yato, Noir Corne

[@richarddavid7378]

Yato and Noir Corne are originally 2 stars but I still agree with you.

[@gabrielsanandres6165]

Honestly, I like Yato and Noir Alter though. It made sense to me. Both actually ARE skilled according to their files and lore. It just really came out during the Monster Hunter event due to the threat Rathalos presented, so they had to adapt together with the gear given by the Palicos.

[@asteraceae6260]

i don't get this video. all of the issues you listed exist specifically for one alter, and i'd be willing to bet that 90% of arknights players can agree on that. for any other alter, they just don't make sense as criticisms. the alters we've gotten all have just as much lore justification as silence alter, don't they? silence has as much setup for growth as any other operator with an alter. skadi and specter are both interconnected with seaborn lore and would logically get in depth character explorations with the seaborn events, making them obvious choices for an alter, and the fact that their lore was expanded upon in the event doesn't lessen that fact. texas has had a mafia past since the game launched, hinted at through her voicelines and code of brawl. gavial and nearl had entire events demonstrating an unexplored past before their alters. you can make the exact argument for silence alter. she's going to have her character explored in more depth during the event, does that make it feel like a cheap justification for the alter? your focus on the fact that silence is a welfare makes it feel like you're mad at the alters being limited operators, which is valid, but not a problem inherent to alters. how do you feel about reed? she's an alter that has 0% of the problems you've listed in this video, do you feel that she's a justified alter? if you're fine with silence alter, would you be fine with any of the other alters if they were welfares?

[@SUPAH_SUPAH_SUPAH]

Refer to pinned comment.

[@Nevri.]

So Gummy Alter where she embraces her... acquired taste. Got it. Destiny 2 collab actually makes sense if you consider that we're going into freaking space. But yea, it depends how they'll handle integration of both settings, but imo if you wanted to announce collaboration with space game it was perfect timing for it. So in general I agree with your arguments. Entire point of Alter units in other gachas usually is just people liking character and you wanting them to roll more for the same character + maybe showing players different side of that character, but that is usually not that important for developers. As ex-FGO player, summer servants are basically a entire line of Chen Alters. Imagine the nightmare. That being said, you clearly cheery-pick your examples, but I can understand where you're coming from and I agree 4th anni made me hyped way more than usually and I myself couldn't even really put my finger on exactly why. I think the topic is a bit more nuanced than you presented, but if you really wanted to break it down and not go for generalization, this video would be easily 3 times as long, so I can understand why that was easier. Here is my take: *Lava* and *Kross* alters were really the platonic idea of Alters. A 3 star getting a alter, it's giving us glimpse how operators changes and developers in the future and they were a event welfares. If you want to do a alter, that felt like best way to do it and so I really didn't mind them and in fact loved them. They felt like just nice addition to the event and even a bit of fanservice to players. *Hibiscus* and *Greyy* you could argue was the first big departure with having to roll for them, but they could easily be swapped with their event welfare operators, so ultimately we didn't really loose any new potential operators. *Skadi* was big first cash grab. Skadi was meme'd to be useless unit, but she also had a diehard fanbase, so releasing a limited alter of her really made sense from business perspective, but the exact justification of her existence as you said was very lacking. But it was first 6 star alter we got and it was half year anniversary, so it didn't feel that out of place, but she still was alter of already a 6 star operator. *Nearl* . Say what you want about her gameplay, but imo NTR was alter done right. It was always said she was amazing fighter, but now choose to be more of a defender (pun intended), so guard Nearl where she is back in her prime made perfect sense. Or at least that's how I understood it, but apparently Defender Nearl was already in her prime and her fighting style was always like that, so NTR is actually changing her fighting style to be more offensive as well as advancing her story in order to change Kazimierz. Honestly, nothing to complain about. Totally justified Alter unit. *Ch'en* . I'll die on that hill. Ch'en makes sense as a alter unit. Even as a summer themed one. What they failed to do was giving her character enough change and justification for her to be a alter unit and the weapon they gave her, while fitting for summer theme, made no sense lore wise (even if water cutters are a thing). So the idea was perfectly fine, the execution was just botched. Also another 6 star to 6 star. *Specter* . On paper she seemed to make just as much sense as Nearl, but in practice, yea, they botched the execution and explanation how her character progression came to be, also her kit was just too similar to OG Specter, which really made her feel like a upgraded version of 5 star version (even though they still have different strong and weak sides). *Gavial* . Another perfect Alter. While it's not exactly her progressing her story, it was always established she was fighter first and that she kicks ass, so seeing her actually going as a frontline fighter made perfect sense. Also the way they did the event was just great, as it was just summer themed, not really taking place during summer, so she doesn't feel like summer specific unit. You might consider her a waste of operator space, but she at least was a relatively obscure 4 star that was hinted to change jobs to become a medic. *Texas* . Yea. I agree. I was so sure we'll get at least Lappland Alter, she'd make so much more sense. Texas Alter, while amazing, just feels kinda forced. *Reed* . Another amazing alter. She is obscure (nobody uses her) and 5 star, but she ties heavily into main story, has entire character arc and development so her Alter makes perfect sense and most importantly is non-limited. Honestly if all alters were welfares or non-limited I bet much less people would complain about them, even if they were poorly executed (I hate limited units in general, especially the way AK does them). *Yato* and *Noir Corne* . Unless they have some amazing lore I'm not aware off and it ruins them or something, I think they were used perfectly in that collaboration. Giving them new equ and letting them show off how bad-ass they are is perfectly enough. Only downside is that they're not only limited, but collab operators so you only get 1 shot to get them and then they're gone forever.

[@yellowcathaver2158]

Reed already had in game chapter lore for her being stronger than just a vanguard and hiding something Along with gavial she was known to be strong and ig people thought it had potential. The rest I agree have no lore

[@wawamachi]

Wooo I'm excited about silence alter too!! I'm sorry to make you feel burnt out about my templated drawings, I will try my best to draw better next time.

[@lazydogge1921]

I hope HG will release fewer alters and more new unique characters (and god please don't let them be a meta). I really got sick that instead of spinning any banner I like, I have to wait for the limit one (because otherwise I have to save 300 rolls to spark the right operator and this is a vicious circle). And yes, i love rosmontis.

[@KrisStab]

Idk about that mate, limited banners have the 300 pull safety net, and in theory the standard banners may not give you what you want like ever (in theory ofc). Even with the upcoming hard pity standard banner changes it can coast you up to 250 theoretical pulls to secure an op, and at this point you are better off getting the 6*selector ticket on the next limited banner or hope for an offrate on that limited banner. 250 pulls are 840 primes wich is like 400-500 bucks in terms of shop value. For that kind of worth, its better to try and get that limited op or a legacy op while hopping to get a desired op offbaner.

[@foujiz]

Though I understand the gripes, the fact is that AK has too many characters added to its roster. The number of characters you need to developp is already way too much, and given how HG loves to use NPCs with self-contained stories to have more impact on the narrative, most units and Operators don't have much screentime. And when they do, it's those damn fish girls that have as much personality as wet paper. So this only leaves the Operator files and module descriptions to flesh them out a bit more, but they can only do so much. The fact that the event in which the Alter appear justifies its existence is a bit of a given. Then again, switching the story structure of the events to make older operators appear (like they did in Dorothy's vision) would help to prevent this.

[@Knanio]

I have to disagree with some points, you said that silence was built up well in lore, but your examples were “She’s a mother figure and she’s rebellious”. I don’t understand how that’s a good alter, sure she was bound to get stronger but being rebellious alone does not make you stronger and the mother figure one doesn’t make sense. Sure, she’s maturing since she takes care of ifrit but she was already mature since she was a genius prodigy working for a world renowned company. Now, what kind of lore would an operator need to have in order to justify an alter? Well it’s a tricky subject because it’s all subjective, for example, I prefer someone who has some mystery behind them while still being a predominant figure in a few events where they were forced to use their past experiences or their “full power”. For example, Gavialter was a good alter, she had her own events with other characters (mainly Eunectes) talking about how she was incredibly strong in the past but decided to move away from fighting to follow medicine. The reason I enjoy these kind of alters is because Arknights is moving forward into the future of the story, and while the past is definitely talked about, we as the Doktah are seeing the story from the current pov. We never got to see the past of certain characters because we were in Chernobog or the character joined Rhodes island after going through a change. There’s a lot of lore we missed since we, the Doktah, were asleep so I love diving into their new but past selfs because they had a certain title or were known for something terrifying or good. Imo a shining alter would be cool but I feel there isn’t much lore yet, although the fact that shining might know the doctor as we looked “familiar” definitely peaked my interest. I don’t mind if alters end up being like Kroos or Lava where they matured and got promoted and what not, but Kroos and lava had their event where we got to see how much they’ve changed. Silence being a “mommy” or being a “rebel” just don’t cut it for me imo. I wasn’t really interested in seeing an alter for her and instead would have opted for Saria (if she was a 5 star) or ifrit (if she was a 5 star) since their stories are much more exciting to me as well. Ifrit is a walking experiment and Saria is ceo of Rhines lab and despite being a medic, is insanely strong. I don’t hate Silence alter but her being a young prodigy doesn’t peak my interest all too much, as her lore in events are interesting but doesn’t make me want a better version of herself. In conclusion, this is just my opinion and I don’t hate any alters as I actually welcome them but limited operators don’t have to always be alters, I like Mumu finally being playable and hope other npcs who have amazing stories end up becoming playable in the future. Chen alter is the only one that came from the left field since we only needed a skin for her, not an alter but nonetheless appreciate the new voice lines she got since she was a new unit.

[@Linkusmax]

Curious how you will feel when we get the inevitable Siege Alter with a sword, HG have been playing it up forever. Especially if she ends up a limited operator.

[@SUPAH_SUPAH_SUPAH]

Wouldn't have a problem with it being an alter I'd have a problem with it being Siege since she's just kinda lame as a character

[@aurelienlegendaire1784]

​@@SUPAH_SUPAH_SUPAH And what about Shining Alter ?

[@tiaanmoller1508]

I'm not the biggest fan of alter characters, but I do think there are some decent ones from a lore perspective, especially in Lava, Kroos and NTR. Texas does have some decent buildup aswell with the rest of the members of Penguin Logistics. I do wish that more limited banners had new characters though. Really excited for Silence Alter and Mumu, love the Rhines Lab cast!

[@dragonfirekidgaming1404]

I dont like the limited operators being alters, but to a certain extent i do like having alters because i would rather learn and have more of someone i already know, than having 3 new ppl to learn and try to care about every time.

[@Mehfia]

The coincidence of this video being uploaded during box2's "who deserves an alter" tier list stream.

[@MyrdinAnnoth]

I do agree that less known / used operators should be prioritised for Alters. Even better if those said operators are 3* and 4*. 5* In rare cases like Reed, where the poor Vanguard Reed was a neglected laughing stock, but her alter sees some actual use. Chenchen with squirt gun was a blatnat cash grab, that is indisputable. And yeah not a fan of Alters taking the limited ops spot. Outside of the annual Dragon siblins, its been a while since we saw a non alter limited like W or Rosmontis. Though then again I wouldnt mind if they scaled down the limited ops from 4 per year, to 3 per year and instead made more of the alters into welfare ops.

[@joeltanjr.3134]

First look at AK, I immediately thought it simply has a story of sci-fi tech and disease, war.. all of that was enough to say that the main story is well-written reading into the first parts, and then they introduced cities, factions and groups across Terra then we see A WHOLE LOT of storytelling, which gets more interesting. The narrative was deep and wide and sometimes confusing to follow, but even so, looking at it altogether and that's when I find the complete diversity inside Arknights and it's not just about the Doctor and main characters. I'd say passion was there altogether as they made these stories along with these alters, some just simply don't appeal to some. While I was reading some lore, at some points I always thought "how the freak do these guys come up with this kind of plot and characters?" They're so diverse and narratively long that you know that it's not written by just a small group. And that's what I love about AK altogether and look at the alters as lore extenders. They didn't really ruin the gameplay, mechanics or value of other ops or anything at all but rather they just exist as an extention of their own part of their story

[@lolaandjoe123]

Not sure if you're still reading comments a few days later but I have a question, you seem to quite strongly feel that Texalter and Yatalter are pushing the game in a problematic direction in regards to damage, and whilst I can see this point, personally they're pushing the game in a really fun direction, in which I as a player have more autonomy and more actions within the game. I believe that the unit design has been fairly problematic for gameplay - Starting with Blaze, and then Thorns and Mountain, these insane laneholders that are completely self-sufficient and AFK make the game inherently much LESS fun, I have LESS points of decision making when I play and less buttons to actually press. I believe that the direction the pushed fast redeploys are pushing the game in is really cool actually, and seems REALLY fun to play, the helidrop playstyle sounds so much more fun than the playstyle that Mountain and Thorns encourages, at least imo.

[@SilentSpirit671]

Siege Alter will probably be a cash grab trap & I’m about to walk right into it.

[@igualdable]

I definitely agree on the point of how some alters like Texas and Yato can be detrimental to the game's balance by being turbofocused on DPS. But I think you are thinking too deep on the alters having a big reason to exist. Like, since the beginning of gacha times, alters have been a funny little alternative version of a character. Either could be a super deep older version of that character with a ton of lore behind, or just the character with an Adidas sportswear. And both of them are completely fine to exist. (again, all of this putting aside how OP that alter is)

[@soumikdragoon3304]

I'd say only alters that are fitted to be critised by your criteria are Skalter and Chalter. Rest were all teased or set up one way or another. You gave pretty self serving vague arguments tbh.

[@kawaiisenpai6999]

I'd rather existing characters have more depth and get alters and/or modules rather than releasing an endless stream of bland characters to meet quota. Lore depth is a distinctive feature of Arknights, and save for Chen Alter and maybe Grey Alter pretty much every alter reflects a key development milestone for the respective character. Furthermore, if you pay attention to the lore and wiki, the premise behind these alters have often been introduced well in advance. Also, releasing alters is a capitalistic cash grab? Lol you're playing a gacha, EVERY character is a cash grab, especially ones that are remotely strong or have a good character design.

[@themambawarrior2290]

I feel like, if Saria got an alter, it would be pretty justified from the story before said alter. After all, she's shown to be extremely strong and capable in hand-to-hand combat, but she chooses to always carry around her shield for some reason and focus more on protecting others than going on the offense.

[@SUPAH_SUPAH_SUPAH]

Being able to predict or see why an Alter would happen is not "proper set-up" for character growth and characterization. If it is, then any character with anything vague or un-answered about them is good enough "set-up" for an alter. Refer to pinned comment.

[@crimsonfoxonusae4472]

Got to disagree on the lack of set up for Gavial, texas and the abysal gang, they've already been told and hinted at that they could be more of them we don't know yet. Altho yeah Chen alter doesn't make sense and i much prefer seeing 5 stars becoming 6 stars showing proper character growth from their time within rhodes island

[@aqira2yoo486]

I definitely think this is one of the more thoroughly planned??? Events... the skins coming with it, like kaltsit skin, and Irene and umm Chen skin, there's a lot of reasons for me to be hyped! And I agree with this feeling like the classic arknights, the feeling when I first played the game

[@echigokurogane8612]

6:11 Fun fact: the average attention span is now lower than that of a goldfish.

[@Rmotion9]

when the 3d animation appeared in the 4th anniversary i stood up from my seat and everything else made me jump with excitement it was beautiful

[@calamar8199]

SUPAH, i don't know what to say to you except that you are wrong. You see, i am HyperGryph's strongest soldier, and after having studied their financial revenue sector (i gave them all my money), i have deduced that alters are "Peak arknights". If my calculations are correct, by the time surtr alter alter alter comes out, hypergryph will have reached the arknights super singularity, where alters will be able to make themselves on their own. Writers will no longer need to write good stories, as the stories will be written by the alter's data entries, and from these data entries new alters will be born. It is an exponentially growing content machine, from skalter to lingalter alter alter alter alter. When enough money has been generated and when lappland has been powercrept enough times Hypergryph will finally have sufficient funds to be able to finance a second gummy skin

[@ArgosTengu0876]

Can't wait for this hope brought upon by Silence alter to die when HG releases a dumb Guard alter for Shining and another dumb alter for Siege.

[@Agniox]

Gotta disagree with this one. I think the only alters that have little setup and leave a bad taste for me are Skalter and Chalter which for me was understandable as it was HG's first few shots at the concept. The Nearl, Gavial, Texas and Reed Alters have been teased for the longest time as their files constantly mentioned them holding back in some way. I wouldn't consider it a rich gets richer scenario either as Texas imo was easily overshadowed by Lappland and Exusiai; Gavial got ignored for majority of the game until she got an event; Nearl was just the bland knight you encounter during the early chapters until Maria Nearl's event hyped her up to oblivion; and people probably forgot Reed even existed until maybe Chapter 9 assuming people read the story. I do agree Specter Alter's reveal was uninspired. It felt like it could've been saved for later. Still, always glad to see people re-igniting their passion for Arknights.

[@whitemagus2000]

I don't give a crap about texas alter. I don't know why she's so popular. I also don't understand why silence was so unpopular; her healing drone has eliminated the need for a second healer on many missions. People say my favorite units suck, but every time I hear how weak they are, I use them to 100% another annihilation mission or set of challenge missions.

[@shayusu8317]

I think a lot of the comments are conflaiting cool lore trivia/backstory with genuine actual character development that we as readers (ew) can see. I think you can make good arguments for why every alter was justified and could have been forseen. But at the very least none of them have the same amounts of clear growth and most importantly time spent with them when compared to silence.

[@shayusu8317]

I think skadi and spectre are good examples of what i mean by having a good reason, but none of the writting chops to really back it up. Skadi is a "what if?" Scenario that falls on her backstory. Spectre was insane, isnt anymore. Both of these changes were extremely binary in nature. Was a thing, am now a different thing. Most of the character growth related to said change is in the event they dropped at. And the lore that pointed to it happening is in operator records, profiles, and pieces of world building scattered throughout events. Silence has all of that. Silence also has a manga. Silence also has 2 event's that though didnt focus on her, still progressd her character, and finally the reason is way less of a binary change but thats admittedly kinda subjective and remains to be fully seen since we of course havent read lone trail yet. I think texas, reed, and nearl are the best counter examples for my complaints. I think the binary change supported by reading into lore still applies to Texas and nearl but Reed has ch 9. I'd like more but that's good enough.

[@Khroniclas]

The best part of 4th anniversary for me is that we are getting a Sami event which may finally jailbreak Santalla after so many years. Hoping she is a caster with freeze mechanics, since that would fit what they set up in Maggy's little story. Even if she is something else entirely, I just hope they keep some sort of freeze mechanic in her kit. It seems like they completely forgot this form of CC, while Santalla seems good with snowstorms at the very least. After this long she deserves to be a 6* from the Sami event, and not a mere 5* welfare for IS4 imo. I never thought we'd get a Silence alter since her OG form is already everything we know about her AFAIK. Additionally I thought Muesli and Ol'hag would never be jailbroken, yet here they are together with the unexpected alter. The copers are getting a triple victory on this one. Except for the copers that hoped Ulpian would come to Columbia as a 6* to warn them of the incoming seaborne ofc, those copers got fucking rekt.

[@kyarumomochi5146]

Litterally no mention of santalla becoming playable ever came on IS4 PV but ok lmao

[@Khroniclas]

@@kyarumomochi5146 Keyword is may. Sami event would be a good chance to make her playable, so I hope they actually pull through and do so. She was at least visible in some art, so she will be back as NPC at bare minimum.

[@u0912is]

Wait till this guy hear about W

[@ChuongDang185]

Alters are pure unironic SOUL. All of them from Summer Ch’en to Texas are a sign that the game actually cares about some it’s characters and not all of them are dumped into the pit of irrelevancy after release. I hope we get more summer alts, cool alts or whatever else HG can come up for the special big limited events. Silence Alter is the least exciting alter out of all of them which definitely why she’s the welfare but hey it’s nice for Silence fans so I will not deny them their time in the spotlight.

[@MoriBoita]

Honestly You right, imo, *most* alters feels weird, like "cool now they are stronger than before, but they already were strong", comparing alters like texas to texalter is like comparing goku to goku ssj, he was strong already, now he is even more os a threat, not like Lavalter and Reed alter, lava was a 3* and no one thought that a 3* could get an alter (and free) and she's not only a upgrade (in all fronts) but also helps with her popularity, Reed feels like more of a gameplay update with some cool reasons behind (most people don't use her, or even don't like her at all, but after the alter she got some well deserved love) Skadi to skalter, to me, was a mixed feelings moment, skadi is popular but outside Abyssal Hunters (who basically didn't existed as is today) was underwhelming at best. Ch'en, Ch'en, that's it (popular, almost poster child of the game, broken alter). Nearl i can let it past cuss everyone wanted to see how powerful she could get, and we got it, so much so she almost banished Skadi back into the abyss she was crawling out of. And so on and on. For me it would be better to geg an alter of a operator who can't be fixed or just isn't that good compared to others in the same class, like Lava and now Silence (like who is going to use silence if it's not driven by love, she is cool but we have almost 50% who can do the same or similar), if we get alters of more 3* or 4* that would be awesome, or completely forgotten/mememd characters (tsukinogi alter broken?) But that's just me using the only brain cell left in my head, i'm not the smartest player, luckiest or even good by any mean, at beast i know the lore of 4 characters, but that was my opinion (i can at least formulate one, since my brain hasn't been turned into soup yet) Idk, those past alters were giving me Fate flashbacks, were popular characters were the ones getting alter and other forms and shit, hell, we have about 10 different Arturias, that would be like, 10 different Ch'ens, that's absurd

[@Truck-kun11]

Alters, like crossovers, are good in moderation, because if you overdo it, you end up saturating the game with variants of existing characters, which is one of the reasons I didn't enjoy Honkai Impact so much where half the catalog is variants.

[@jillstingray8828]

Agreed, but Arknights already has several non-alters operators already... It might even have a bit too many.

[@Thalasseven]

That's impressive, i've watched all kind of Arknights content creator, but you are the only one that missjudge completly the entire game. I already thought of it before, but at this point i'm willing to believe you're in truth not playing the game at all, that's the only explanation for being so much off the mark every time you're talking about the game. I'm feel so bad for Arknights developers making this great game for a guy like you, i'm so pissed...

[@jeromesol2725]

I really, really, REALLY didn't like how HG is pumping out limited operators ever since Nian came out. I mean, i get it's to make money and as a special character for a themed event (like summer, CNY, etc) but I would definitely play a game where the only limited characters are the collab characters and not alternate versions of original characters. Like, every other banner without a limited op? It's trash now; unless it has Surtr, Thorns, Mudrock, Horn, Mlynar, you get the picture, that standard banner doesn't mean anything anymore; the only real banners everyone will go for are the ones with the limited operator. I don't really know how I feel about this kind of practice from HG but, oh well, I guess. If it means funding for future projects, then I'll stop b*tching I'm still salty they didn't release Ulpian yet

[@Techieee-]

Totally nailed the point on the alter issue and how COOL IS TO NOT HAVE AN ALTER IN THE BANNER WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, The 4th anniversary is a certified banger fr fr.. Also, I aim to ask the Strong Powers controlling all the world to make the Destiny collab illegal, like How cursed it is to listen Destiny and Arknights in the same sentence, I was literally dying during the reveal jeez...

[@swift-pawedteif386]

The first person I meet who’s upset, mostly just confusion from all sides. I’m also confused

[@Techieee-]

@@swift-pawedteif386 I'm not upset, I just feel like it's not right for both franchises, Is like putting together FNAF and Warframe, You could do it.. But why..?

[@Santisima_Trinidad]

Reminder that the questionnaires which come out with the anniversary events are important. Also, i may end up spending a significant amount of money on mumu. She is a tactican vanguard. Whilst i ain't playing tactican as much as i used to (beanstalk most used operator 2022), theres no fucking way i ain't playing with one which optimises the tactics part of tactican vanguards. Bringing along an operator specifically so you can gift there range to the ranged summon? Or stats to a melee? That will feel fecking good.

[@daafaluqman3444]

I kinda disagree with some of your point. But mann the 4th anniv stream is really amazing. Hg finally breaking the alter limited rule. And the stream is entertaining as heck, i do enjoy a lot. The best stream after 2nd anniv

[@bionicfactory1]

I agree with a lot of what you said about alters but I'm just gonna say Nearl Alter is probably the best existing limited alter due to her story

[@yiraw]

I think Silence is probably the lamest alt so far though and she generally seems to be the least popular one out of any 6* alt. Your opinion on cash grabs first and cool characters second feels wrong when you have Gavial, Reed, Yato all to point back on in the last while for characters no one really cared about who got alts, just you don't like to count them. Is it wrong to give characters people already like alts in yours eyes? Because that's what it sounds like you're saying calling stuff like a Saria alt a cash grab. Silence has had more material than most 6*s already and continues to get more, its the definition of the rich get richer you liked to bring up. 90% of all new 6*s, not just alts, justify themselves with their own release events, this feels like an extremely nit-picking point. By the same vein, I'm sure a lot of events start off on the character design phase, who do they want to focus on an event, who is this character, its not an alt exclusive way of designing anything. 'Corporate and souless' is as subjective a point as it comes, is popular characters like Skadi and Texas getting alts them giving people what they want because people like them or giving people what they want because it makes money is a line no one will ever be able to argue fully. Reed already showed they were doing alts not as limiteds so the whole 'took the limited spot' falls apart when they were already moving beyond that before Silence. All in all, awful video. The part where you pulled up a single twitter artist and tried to shit all over him was completely disconnected from the rest of this and you just sounded like an ass complaining about an artist you don't like. I don't like the artist's joke either but doing that in a video like this was unnecessary and leaves a sour taste on the rest of the video.

[@frostedplays]

What about Reed Alter? The Reed alter justification was cooking up an entire 2 story chapters back when she gets abandoned, I think hers was fine.

[@SUPAH_SUPAH_SUPAH]

Pasted from another reply I gave about this: Reed is another issue entirely. She meant Alters were going to show up in non-anniversary events as the main 6-Star, which would've made the burn-out exponentially worse. Thankfully HG seems to not be following up on it. She doesn't have most of the issues in this video, but presented a different, equally as bad one

[@hydradominatus3661]

@@SUPAH_SUPAH_SUPAHunfortunately jessicalter has proven that they intend to make good that precident

[@ranger_reveal9936]

I gotta say that i agree with your points and it does relieve a lot of pressure from pulling. Not to mention Silence is free and that is a blessing.

[@raquelalejandrapatinoojeda8334]

...neither Specter, Gavial, Reed, Texas or Yato are 6 stars. Popular, yes. But not 6 stars.

[@SUPAH_SUPAH_SUPAH]

Show me the exact part of the video where 6-Stars getting 6-Star alters was put as an actual consistent issue and not as something that, if it happens, only IF it happens, is lame. Please do.

[@raquelalejandrapatinoojeda8334]

@@SUPAH_SUPAH_SUPAH I'm not saying that. My comment is just in answer to it getting mentioned twice (6:22 and 9:12), which makes it feel as if 6 star alters of 6 star units have been more common.

[@asheqabeer1798]

How come Supah and everyone else is completely ignoring Reed Alter? I mean Loughshinny made her codename reed so that she wouldnt stand out and the only difference she has with silence alter is that she isnt welfare

[@zomfgroflmao1337]

I kind of disagree with that alter argument, as I would argue that half of the alters had a reason to exist. For the others the alter argument is very valid, but alters like the reserve team alters or Nearl, Reed are quite premeditated and can be seen as long prepared alters, for others like Ch'en and the AH the argument made is very valid, but I don't like throwing all alters into the same bag.

[@sungokong8540]

So will we get Bagpipe alter that following geneva convention rule??

[@lolaandjoe123]

I also kinda feel like Reed already broke this issue, no? 5* underused unit with huge lore setup and not limited

[@SUPAH_SUPAH_SUPAH]

Reed is another issue entirely. She meant Alters were going to show up in non-anniversary events as the main 6-Star, which would've made the burn-out exponentially worse. Thankfully HG seems to not be following up on it. She doesn't have most of the issues in this video, but presented a different, equally as bad one

[@lolaandjoe123]

@@SUPAH_SUPAH_SUPAHThat's honestly a super valid criticism to have if your main issue is that there's just too many alters and it's making it less cool. I still disagree that most have a lack of setup, but if it's just burnout from too many alter 6s then I can sympathize with that

[@AvantsPianoScores]

Alternate title: Supah rips on specific boring alters while ignoring that people actually want alters beloved as Nearl and Gavial (and the lower star alters) and are hoping that Saria, Shining and Siege get their time 😂 The only really “bad” alters imo are Chen and Texas because their story isn’t nicely justified, especially Texas because she’s still the same… but with a suit. Everyone else has had hints that they will get an alter eventually when they face their past (or in the low rarity cases, face their future). Skalter was a weird case cuz she’s kind of a lore device. As from Under Tides, sane Specter alter was expected, but disappointing because it came too soon cuz some others deserved the slot first. And also Haimao said on stream that the team planned their story arcs way from the start, so most if not all alters present and to come were already justified to begin with. So going by the pattern of giving alters to those hinted to get one, Silence is at the bottom of the list to get an alter and if she got the limited spot it would have been the worst cash grab move HG made I know it’s a fun video and all but I just felt a bit irritated. Rant over Edit: more elaboration

[@jillstingray8828]

Alters don't need setup imo. And tbf, for example, if you re-reread the Reunion arc, it is said several times Ch'en's sword requires you to be very disciplined to be able to properly use it. After Reunion arc, she is kinda lost and her beliefs were challenged. Yeah you can argue they did it with a bikini Ch'en and they could have done "better" but I personally like it so I had no issues with that. This is just an example, but alters really do make sense. Even if it's justified with their release event (i.e Skaltear with Under Tides, Chalter with Dossoles Holiday, etc...) And let's be fair. Arknights has a lot, and I mean a lot, of non-alter characters. At some point, without the alter system, they would get burn out. I really don't see how they can maintain the same pace they have right now without alters. I just don't see how alters "ruined" Arknights, when it is actually helping quite a fair amount. There are both positive and negative aspects, but I am more inclined to think that it is doing more good than bad at this point.

[@nandapratamaputratomasila4801]

Omg first EDIT: Also, TIL that SUPAH's a psychology student.

[@FreeBot-w8y]

4:02 shiggy wiggy*

[@antoniodenni4592]

Sei tipo il capobastone di arknights Ma comunque si, silence alter è stata una bomba per gli alter, perché espande di molto la lista degli operatori a poterlo essere (non solo per popolarità/lore passata, ma anche per progressione di storia, quindi oltre a lei 100% arriverà una siege alter con un qualche tipo di spada della roccia di victoria)

[@SUPAH_SUPAH_SUPAH]

"Capobastone di Arknights" è il complimento migliore che ho mai ricevuto

[@kobealcober4469]

If the 4th aniv made SUPAH hopeful about Arknights then maybe I can also be hopeful for a return to form to the old SUPAH who used to make Totally Accurate Story Summaries.

[@ShadowSausage]

Ptilopsis, Mayer, Astgenne: Are we a joke to you? They are also from Rhine lab but not mentioned here

[@voider1212]

I came from discord, the moment the notification appeared I joined, Anyway i am gonna max out Gummy thanks to Supah! GUMMY ALTER WHEN

[@SUPAH_SUPAH_SUPAH]

5

[@Phos9]

I don't mind alters because there are so many characters in the game already that actually being able to make time for any of them getting development basically requires an alter or just happening to be important to an events plot. I'm actually kind of surprised that Muelsyse is the limited, I would expect someone named "Yesterday" in a game called "Tomorrow's Ark" to be of more importance. I still suspect a Saria alter because it's pretty clear that they weren't thinking of Saria as a healing defender when they wrote Dorothy's Vision. Speaking of alters I expect, that harlequin W outfit not becoming a skin has me suspecting that they're going to make a W alter whether we want it or not. I'm actually kind of annoyed, even as someone who has her, that Nearl Alter is a limited considering how important she is to how the game is played. They've been setting up a Waai Fu alter since she came out, with so many instances of her promising that she would surpass her father, and then we finally get the event where you would expect that to happen and it's been hijacked for the Sui siblings' non-plot. If I'm right about Invitation to Wine, this is the second time. Come on, I need Waai Fu to Cr. mk SAII someone. So what I think is really going on here is that there are two or more teams of writers that aren't talking to each other enough. That's why we can have both Events like Twilight of Wolumonde and Guiding Ahead, and also Rob Liefeld tier stories where the strong women who all look the same fight the bad guys from azur lane again. The Destiny crossover wasn't that weird to me because Rhine Labs is dripping in Clovis Bray Exoscience influence. There's a lot of potential to re-traumatize characters by bringing back dead arknights characters as light bearers, because a light bearer does not have any memory of their pre-light bearer self, basically being a new person who looks like someone who's dead.

[@purevert]

Now it see the passion, thanks for enlightening this poor soul

[@afirstnamealastname7977]

1000th like! Yohoo! I'm such a loser... Good video. I really like Silence. Happy that SUPAH liked Silence Alter, too.

[@hms5057]

0:42 Why ... You know i really want to see a video about why you hate them as a team and as individual units

[@SUPAH_SUPAH_SUPAH]

Apologies, hating abyssal hunters is in my DNA. There is no reason for it. It is a perpetual hatred machine fueled by its own hatred, hating for the mere sake of it

[@Kimu3657]

Owlter Also extended surtr duration...

[@BlueFlameKirin]

Me, sitting on 200+ pulls for Cellinia: *embarassed laughs* But supah, imagine a W alter...

[@SUPAH_SUPAH_SUPAH]

WALTER

[@BlueFlameKirin]

@@SUPAH_SUPAH_SUPAH and operator pinkman as the welfare. "Let's cook" Walter, probably

[@Sergazz]

Imagined

[@zoramarslink5788]

You are definitely exaggerating on the Alters. Plenty of them got proper set ups before hand.

[@SUPAH_SUPAH_SUPAH]

Being able to predict or see why an Alter would happen is not "proper set-up" for character growth and characterization. If it is, then any character with anything vague or un-answered about them is good enough "set-up" for an alter. Refer to pinned comment.

[@Skorak]

Ey, all I'm saying is that Texter doesn't wear a cumrag as an earring.

[@SUPAH_SUPAH_SUPAH]

She has earrings?

[@Skorak]

@@SUPAH_SUPAH_SUPAH look at the E1

[@exar44]

Imagine if Supah played Fire Emblem Heroes! Alters EVERYWHERE!

[@SUPAH_SUPAH_SUPAH]

I did play it once! It was just because Sothis is really, really hot.

[@govinlock8568]

About 4th anniversary, I still freightened that HG didn't released Adnachiel alter as a 5 star Heavyshooter. My boi just useless for a 3 star and he never got better treatment. Edit: and also I am sorry but Silence alter got bad taste in my mouth because she is just like Chalter and Reed: no clue at all, just change equipment and BOOM: Alter. This is bad for me because it contradicts the original lore. Other alters including: -Skadi: Walking Catastrophe. She is fitting because her alter is one of gods that conquered sea. -NTRK: Nearl, with little help from Blemishine (I forgot) able to defeat Withered Knight and his twin brother. Also already hinted that she won the knight competition. -Gavial: She was able to destroy Eunectes' robot during Acahualla event. -Texas: She is one of strongest mafia member. Hinted in Code of Brawl.

[@dennisdacillo6516]

Changing some events yearly scheme of combining alters and limited in one and making itnseperate is very good changes it feels like developers give us the expect the unexpected while thinking outside the box at the same time. Like the event happens in space. SUPAH if Gummy is getting an alter here is my idea She became an Gummy the Supernatural Incantation Medic where her attack and skills depend on the stun and heal like skill1 If the enemy was stun it will immidiately attack again and double the amount she heals. Gummy the Critical Punisher 2nd one She was Centurion Guard She has an abilty to stun the enemy and it was also AOE and have a talent whenever she stuns an enemy she heals.

[@spiderdude2099]

As long as fans like fanservice, Alter operators will exist. And I’m also one of them The reasons I personally like Alters is as follows: 1. If it’s for a lower rarity unit being upped to a 5 or 6 star rarity that’s really cool. I always love seeing 4 star and lower operators get that treatment because it’s a tangible playable unit that symbolizes their growth in the story and makes their existence relevant to the story and the meta of the game again in many cases. 2. It often includes a lot of lore about their past or personal backstory in its design and how it works (unless you’re Chen alter). As someone who has NEVER EVEN ONCE skipped a single cutscene or bit of dialogue in any event or the main story, I really appreciate lore tidbits being referenced in their design and even when the design is a bit nonsensical, I like seeing how it is justified in the event story they feature in (with Chen being the exception. Stupid unit, stupid reason for her design to be the way it is) 3. Alter units and the stories and events they feature in give a tangible feeling of the progression of time. We can see the operator is older and has matured. It’s the same reason that time skips in anime are so popular. It allows for development of a character’s personal story. My only gripe would be how events across the board don’t have tangible enough effects on the main story. Too much resetting of the status quo. But that’s a failing of the way events are treated in this game, not the alter themselves. 4. Alters being a different class or subclass than their original unit is cool. It shows a different side of the operator’s skill set and sometimes makes a lot of narrative sense. I do absolutely agree with hating when alters get given to units that didn’t even need them at all. My LEAST favorite is when the original version is ALSO a six star. I don’t think seeing an already rare unit get the same rarity but just….again. And also, holy shit some units in this game DESPERATELY need alters more. Frostleaf anyone?