Hi! I think I agree with your takes on the RE99 story!
"the characters are simply being pushed and pulled by the flow of the plot, instead of moving the story on their own" - yes, this is exactly how it feels. Like there's stuff happening, and it would've happened with any characters even if there were some completely different people in their place. That's how you know a story is weak.
Chapters 1 and 2 pass by, and I can barely tell you what Vertin's personality is supposed to be, and only in Chapter 3, do we get to see -why- she's our hero or what Sonetto's struggles are.
And so far, the personal stories are a much better experience because there it's the characters who make the story move, it's something personal about Tooth Fairy, Shamane, and 6, something that happened as a result of their doubts, actions, and relationships.
But I think the game has potential. Chapters 3 and 4, focused on "this is who Vertin was in her childhood" and "everyone is trying to save Vertin in their own ways" were cool even if Constantine was a ridiculous villain. Mor Pankh so far is the most "complete" story in R1999 (bar the character stories), giving us the first compelling villain in Kumar and some character growth in Kaalaa Baunaa. Also, R1999 has its presentation in spades, scenes like the children's song in chap3 or the journey into the cave in chap5 look -beautiful- visually.
And I think it will grow. It's almost a curse almost no gacha game's story becomes good immediately. Arknights took its time to grow, and so did FGO. So maybe they'll get to the point when they have some breath to try hard even for the main chapters. Maybe it won't happen soon, but maybe one day they'll make a chapter that will make us marvel. They have some pretty cool ideas on philosophy.
I've heard Path to Nowhere has both a pretty compelling story and a complete voiceover, though I haven't tried it.

Yes, Russian works in a way that a name has a common "short form", and for Anastasia it's "Nastya", while for "Anna" it's "Anya". So an "Anya's" full name would more commonly be "Anna", and that's what most Russian people would assume the girl's name is. However, sometimes people choose individual nicknames, so there would be nothing impossible for a particular Anastasia to ask to call her "Anya" in short if that's her choice.
I'd assume the common shortenings for "Anastasia" would be, in order of commonality: Nastya -> Nastasya -> Stasya (I had a classmate who went by this, even!), and only then "Anya".
I've even met a few Anastasia's annoyed foreigners call them "Anya's", but I think that also takes a particular kind of person.
(And in Japan, some don't want to be called "eggplant tea" ナス社茶)

As for FGO and the Grand Duchess Anastasia, I think they watched that 1997 cartoon too much, it makes the same mistake. In letters, she was shortened either as "Nastya" or "Nastas'ka" (another "small"-showing suffix "-ka" is added here).

I don't particularly "hate" any race (I love AK discussions they sound so wild out of context) but I can admit I'm not too big on Durins. Sorry, Pozy. Their readiness to enjoy life and die when they have to as long as they get to leave something behind is a nice and unique element of their culture, but portraying a whole race as a bunch of irresponsible children who pile all their problems on a few responsible people, ignore any sensible advice, forsake orders and promises, and, most importantly, are permanently drunk, didn't sit right with me. You'd wonder how that bunch even managed to survive and develop that much without getting themselves killed earlier. Then, there's the designs. I'll be frank I wouldn't be big on a new Durin release, I think I just wouldn't care because all Durins are designed just like "kids!!" without any interesting elements. Sometimes a beard gets slapped on.
The exception would be Minimalist's boyfriend Catch who is Ideal City's MVP and resolved the situation by sacrificing his whole career. I'd be happy to see him again.
And then there's Archosauria. The concept of a croc race with unique values who separate people by the thickness of their tales is awesome. What's NOT awesome is the design of any female Archosauria. Boys get to be awesome full crocs. Girls... the playable are pretty anime girls with tails, the NPC ones are the "female orc in games" meme picture. Seriously Arknights' biggest L in history when it came to the design of a race/region. Give us a proper croc girl, dammit.
And together these two made Sargon a clown fest which is so much less than it deserves. Thankfully, Reclamation Algorithm seems to be doing its best to fix that and provide some Sargon lore that isn't all giggles. At least on the Arab/Persia/Asia inspiration part. Not sure they'll ever do anything worthwhile with the Amazon River part, though.
Damn, Gavial is to blame for everything again! Truly a "savior".

Now about interesting races, I think I'd love to see more Savra and Pythias. Savra designs especially kick. Give me more people like Rangers and F12. I'd also like a deeper dive into the Anasa and their unique culture, and how it developed differently from the rest of Sarkaz. And also to learn who Utage is.

As a Russian, I've never heard of the name "Eno". But I have a theory.
Arknights loves naming certain characters after cities (Eblana) or mountains (Matterhorn, Monch), and there is, in fact, a Finnish municipality called "Eno".
Even more, it comes from the Karelian word for "river".
So all that may mean Eno comes from either a part of Finland that was occupied by the Russian Empire (which Ursus is an analogy of), or from the Karelia region which is still the Republic of Karelia inside of the Russian Federation (https://www.britannica.com/place/Karelia).
I have never heard of that word being used as a name in Karelia, though.
Another theory I can give is that there exists a Germanic name Eno (https://www.momjunction.com/baby-names/eno/); East Germany was controlled by the USSR for a while, and a part of it (Kaliningrad) still is a part of Russia, which may assume Eno and Sasha were from some Kaliningrad analog in Ursus even if the territorial placement is completely mixed up. Possible with nomadic cities.
But for reasons I can't explain myself I like the Finnish-Karelian theory more. Maybe because they also come from a "snowy" place. Maybe just because I find "being Karelian" more original than "being German".

"Sasha" is a legit name, by the way. It's a short form from "Alexander", and I was very impressed when Alina in Chapter 8 called him "Sashen'ka" which is an even more familiar form, something similar to the Japanese "-chan".

Haha, IW sure feels "did I really read all that?" after some time! That's sure a different type of a "dreamy" feeling than the one people writing "dreams" usually go for.
Talking about dreams, I think Ling's oprec is great. It's poetic, slightly weird and profound, really deserved to be her screen screentime in the event not locked behind rolling and e2'ing her.
And oh yes, I LOVED Where Vernal Winds Will Never Blow. It had an interesting intrugue, a good villain, Yumen is a location that has its character. I think the first scene that got me HYPED was Chongyue's duel against Huai, it clicked me how important and epic it is when the thought "so a peak where god resides can only be reached by a maniac who leaves all humane behind, huh." And then it was only better from there, the Catastrophe hitting Yumen, Yuhsia taking over her dad and Chongyue's battle against Ya were all great. And the ending when Chongyue goes away, and his final goodbye are the ritual drums that beat for the fallen warriors, it was beautiful. I really hope the next Sui event is a WB, not an IS.

(Spoiler: this turns into a Silverash rant)
Depends on what part of the fandom. There are people with whom it's super interesting to discuss stuff even if your views/tastes differ, and then there are people who you just know have not seen anything but three meme pics.
And we all know the top shitty memes like "shotakon Pozy". Blargh.
Let me share a funny one: I said that to a few friends, but I don't trust both Silverash fans and Silverash haters.
Silverash fans: I'm a Silverash fan myself at this point. I thought BI was an extremely interesting story, I enjoyed his dedication to taking harsher means in front of future risks, I enjoyed pondering how his past shaped his cunning but benevolent persona, and I enjoyed the family drama where circumstance crosses paths with the lack of communication.
But then there's that portion of fans who enjoy him as this shitty romance novel trope I call "dominating CEO who fawns over you"? Christian Gray, my ass. Sure his early portrayal is to thank for that, but when people still take him just as that and -enjoy- it, I screech on the inside. I also have... a hate boner for one super popular artist, but that's a different story.
Then there's the type of Silverash fan who understands the good parts but tends to whiten him way too much. "Sending Enya to be the Saintess was also to protect her!" Where did you get that? Even if we can argue it had that side effect, his primary motivation was "the good of Kjerag", him thanking the Doctor for "proving Enya to him" pretty much shows he was just viewing her as a pawn, and didn't expect much from her. His taking his time to arrive at that decision and being thankful it ended in a tie shows he viewed it as a necessary sacrifice and he was ready to make it. He understands his responsibility about everything better than some of his fans do.

Now, about the haters. "I don't agree with him that it's the best course"/"I feel bad for the sisters more"/"I just don't like his conduct" are valid Silverash haters I like more than the two types of fans I've listed above. Then there's people who say his actions for Kjerag were devoid of any valid reasoning, or who start treating him as the mastermind of the whole thing while half of it is Gnosis' solo endeavor (I've even seen some claim Gnosis is "just a guy" while Silverash is the evil manipulative chessmaster? haha), or even start finding problems with completely normal things like "sending Ensia to RI", and... What? BI ended with a better outcome and it would if Silverash were to succeed with what he was planning to do, but that perfect outcome that happened partly by chance wouldn't happen if the whole thing of Kjerag development and untying the false status quo of the Three Clans and the Wine-Bear Court wasn't kickstarted by him in the first place.

And damn it feels weird to see both Silverash fans and Silverash haters and think that both are wrong. It's all about the balance.

P. S. Kal'tsit doesn't talk that much and what she says isn't as difficult as memes claim

I agree, Invitation to Wine is an event I have a difficult relationship with. Let's start from afar: I was HYPED for it. I loved Who is Real. Sui Arc was the first event plot that started to be built up by continuous episodes. Lee was looking like just -my- type of character. Ling also looked great, we always respect some kickass poetry. I think it's 3D PV is still the most tasteful of all AK 3D PV's. MR. NOTHING WAS STILL THERE!!! KROOS!!!!
And when I read, I was "Okay. That's a wuxia... I guess? But at least it was nice to read?"
But as time passes, I think less and less of IW as an event, and here's the reason: while it accomplishes its goal as a bridge set-up chapter, it has little to offer on its own.
It even made me unexcited for the next Sui event, that's an achievement!
Some would say half of its charm is lost on an ENG reader because we don't get the literature references, but... I don't think getting a few references would enhance a story that is so barebones. Not being familiar with T. S. Eliot's "Four Quartets" doesn't prevent me from enjoying the "Walk in the Dust" event. Not reading the original "How Do You Live?" book from the Japanese school curriculum and not understanding the allusions doesn't prevent me from enjoying the story of Miyazaki's latest movie.
Et cetera, et cetera.
So I think there are two problems to IW: weak happenings and weak character usage.
Happenings: as much as we can discuss "did the events shift the status quo" or not, usually something worthwhile is happening in them. Guide Ahead has the Summit of Nations. Lu Xiaohei has an Infected girl looking for her pet and Xiaohei looking for his friends (I use Xiaohei as the perfect example of a small-scale Arknights event). IW had three things: everyone chasing a cup (which is... not that exciting), an introduction to a bad guy (will be relevant later, but doesn't do much for now), and a family drama of a former assassin and his daughter. Oh, the last one has some potential! But now we come to IW's second weakness...
2) IW's character usage is a mess. The only one who accomplishes some sort of character arc is Miss Du. And even then she didn't really resonate with me that much. The NPC's aren't memorable in the way they are in Kazimierz, Iberia, or Kjerag. Mr. Nothing and Kroos are fun characters but they have -nothing- to do in the event, remove them, and nothing changes. Blacknight appears for 2 scenes and is a function that can be replaced with any other character. Liang Xun... acts like he's supposed to have a character arc, but we don't see it? Lee doubts him, but in the end, confirms Liang's still an earnest good guy who didn't lose himself, but we never really see what's been weighing on Liang anyway (by the way I hope they'll get there)? Everyone's just there to run around and it feels like the story wouldn't change even if they replaced all of them with anybody else with the same affiliations. Lee is fine, I think he accomplishes his detective role in this semi-mystery of the cup nicely, and it's refreshing to watch how he's in the victim "possessed" position but remains in control. Ling... has an interesting idea going on, with all that "Myriad years the human realm was drunk, and it won't permit me one farcical dream?", but it just drops with no introspection into Ling's arrival to that thought.

It retains some of the Sui Arc's strengths though: the dialogue in this arc is always interesting, the characters have insightful thoughts to share, so I felt pretty okay reading it, just to watch them talking. It has cool scenes: the chess game was cool. The Rainmaster entrance was cool. The court romance mannerisms were sweet.
But the more I look back at it, the less I understand why it exists except for "we need to stretch this for an X amount of New Year celebrations".

tl;dr Invitation to Wine accomplishes its role as an introduction chapter but has little to offer as its own story despite its length
I was surprised how much I liked When Vernal Winds Will Never Blow compared to it.

Liberi. Birdpeople are peak. So many games have catgirls, bunnygirls etc., but how many consistently give you content of BIRD PEOPLE? Birds are peak. Too many Liberi? They're for me. HG gets it. There's nothing better than smooth feathers and cute wings and floof and more feathers.
Headcanons? Ok.
1. ALL LIBERI HAVE TAILS PERIOD. ASSFEATHERS!! If Mr. Nothing, Cantabile, and Fiammetta can have awesome tails, so can the others. We can't see Elysium's on his summer skin because he lost another bet to Thorns and got his tail cut. Firewhistle... I'LL JUST PRETEND IT'S THERE OKAY???
2. They do have a frail build compared to most races on Terra based on stronger animals. Which doesn't mean they can't train to become very strong like a mercenary like Totter or a martial arts master like Mr. Nothing. It's all training and good control though, so they're not getting compliments on extraordinary strength like Vouivres do. Unless some special techniques are involved like in Saint Carmen's case. On the other hand, they're admired in many places as "the pretty race". Which is... partially based on canon, because Walk in the Dust DOES have mention about a Victorian aristocrat bragging about getting "a Liberi maid" like it's a great thing.
3. For the above reasons, Liberi historically aren't that much respected around Terra like the Sanktas are. They're not discriminated against in particular, either. But their lack of much influence (except Iberia where they're the majority) is exactly the reason why they're grouped in one -huge- Liberi category from sparrows to griffins (similar to Sarkaz and their different types) and not thought about as separate like the dragon races or Perro-Vulpo-Lupo are.
4. For Liberi who have wings on the head, they can spread out when flustered like that Ceylon panel in the Operator comic. Important!!
5. For the feather-haired Liberi, the feathers floof up when they're flustered or enraged. Important!!
(Bonus: this is the reason why nowadays Gnosis does a haircut that attempts to hide his hair feathers as much as possible. Especially from a certain someone.)

I AGREE. Imagine the giant Near Light gave more space to the previous growth of Nearl with Followers or to Area 0. Imagine Dossoles focusing on Pancho and Pluma more and giving Mizuki anything to do. Imagine Break the Ice not forgetting the conflict Aurora had somewhere in the middle of the story and resolving it with something.And while it's not a size contest, and I don't know how much I'll like the current largest ZH... I see a direct connection that the Arknights event had with the quality and length of their events. Lonetrail is the most beloved event by many, and it's also the longest (I will fight for Ferdinand scenes, by the way). And giving the authors more space to write their thoughts out gave an opportunity for the atmosphere to build

Gavial.
1) "she beats up her patients" is a joke that gets less funny the more you think about it
2) the way everyone in Ideal City has a dialogue about how awesome she is and the only thing she does is resolving a guy's trauma by scaring him to death? they were pressed on time, but that was a shit resolution. Completely undeserved praise repeated over and over and over
3) her only interesting moment where she faces some sort of an interesting dilemma of "should I become a leader for my tribe" lasts like 60 seconds and gets resolved by her friends coming and going "oh dw we'll take on the responsibility for you if you want <3". But the awesome one is still Gavial, don't forget!
(And Inam just magically changed her deccision despite saying she was unfit for it unlike Gavial earlier in the story. Okay?)

How I see it, Gavial is a character the devs and writers really liked as their blorbo, and then they tried too hard with hammering "She's cool!!! Fr fr!!!" into everyone else in the bluntest way possible.
Her first event was okay, though.