English
3.8
Short Version: A solid Turn-Based RPG that does enough to remind you how fun the good ol'games back then.
Important Note: No, you don't need to play Honkai Impact nor Genshin Impact first. However, playing those two will enhance the experience. Case in point? Sushang's ultimate attack. Go find out~
Now, Heh heh, I know what you're thinking, how could a Gacha Game which obviously locks the fun (that is, the characters) in a Gacha System reminds us of Fun Old Games that gives us the characters through playing? Is the Free Characters good? Well yes, kind of. But that's not it. Rather, it's how generous this game is early on. Well, more generous than Genshin that is (low bar I know). Let's talk about this more later.
Now usually I write pros and cons. But for this game, I'll start with Preparation, This and That, Pros, Neutral and Cons. Grab yourself a cup of tea/coffee/milk, play some music and let's read.
PREPARATION [Skip This if you're confident you won't get burnout from playing this type of game]
A special section dedicated for Honkai Star Rail, and maybe Genshin if I decide to make a review. Basically, I'm going to discuss what needs to be prepared to reduce future burnout, since this is a Mihoyo exploration game. You either explore for fun.....or explore to farm gems. And the latter is the main reason we get burnout...
# You can blast through Tutorial if you want. There's not much going on. The real exploration starts after you get the Main Character
# Choose the Main Character that you really like. I know it's obvious but still, it will help a lot in convincing you to hold pulling on banner since you already have a favorite.... unfortunately this doesn't work for me. Lumine is so much better.....
# When you get an exp book, IMMEDIATELY use them on your characters, regardless if you're gonna use them in the future or not. That will get them to at least level 12. The enemies are no joke, underestimate them and they will near one shot your team (that's not even their ultimate move). Once you hit 15, that's good enough for the time being
# Fully explore the Space Station. Lots of goodies up for grab, lots of fun activities to do, lot's of funny stuff (THE TOILET!!). Not a lot of interesting lore though.
# Once you fully explore the space station, you should have enough Tickets to do the 50 pull with a guaranteed 5* character, and enough gems to buy 10 special tickets for Seele banner. How to get these? Get the Pre Reg rewards, open the event tab, Open chests, do quests, purchase items from someone near the Afro Guy, purchase tickets from mileage (ala Genshin Style). You'll either get the character you want....or not ..... thank goodness I got Asta from the free tutorial single pull, I like her a lot....I got Gerald from the guarantee.....I would've been ok if it's Welt if it's male character....Welt is the Zhongli of this game
# After all that, you will finally depart by using a train while saying "My Name's Not Shane Kid". Ehem, just kidding. Anyway, all that experience will set the mood for future endeavor. You'll either like the game or not, depends highly on this one single exploration. Honestly, I like the Space Station more than the next world.
And that's all there is to it for the preparation. Just like Genshin, wether you'll like it or not, burnout or not, depends on this preparation. If not, you'll just be stressed on farming gems instead of having fun.
THIS AND THAT [What this game takes from Genshin and HI]
Being a game from Mihoyo, obviously they take some features from 2 of their top games. What did they take? Some good, some.... questionable....
+ Takes Genshin Impact's Gacha System, which is good. Farming gems in this game takes extra effort, like in Genshin. Hence, not needing to save for multi is good for us, we can just do singles. Chances are still the same and we'll either hit the 10th pull guaranteed 4* or get lucky and get 5* character during the single pulls
+ Takes Genshin's progress rewards and milage shop. Good thing this game starts near end of month right? You can buy 5 tickets of each type from the milage shop, wait a couple of days, and purchase them again after reset. The milage shop is always a good thing to have. Not only that, this game also has many progress rewards, like Adventurer's, ehem I mean, Trailblazer's Handbook, Rank Up, ehem I mean, Level Up Rewards, Sakura Tree, ehem I mean, Space Shop, and more. This helps a lot in earning those gems, tickets as well as materials
+ Takes an improved version of HI's Treasure System. Finding this boxes in Honkai Impact was very annoying, especially in Elysian Realm. But here, at least the rewards are actually good. Like Another Eden where it'll reward you with cool weapons/armors for finding Treasure Chests in secret rooms, this game rewards you with 4* Memorias. That's something gacha games tend to not do.....looking at you Genshin.
+ Takes HI's exploration system. Simple but effective.
- Takes Pokemon Sword and Shield's rendering system. Whoops, how did that get in there. Yeah in default, there's going to be a lot of sudden pop ups, especially in the ice world....heh he, ice world....mario...
Pros, Neutral and Cons.
PROS:
+ ASTA!! Yeah I have to say this. Main reason I'm going to stick around despite not having a 5* character that I like is Asta! I just love her, especially her personality. When March 7th said that the Acting Head Researcher is cute pink haired girl, I was like, yeah sure, cute, huh.... Then I met her and wehehel I am so sorry for doubting you're assessment March 7th. I'm using english btw, and I just love her dialogues, reminds me of Mona. Ok enough about Asta, we might be here for long, so let's get to the real part
+ Ultra smooth performance. Wahaha I seriously did not expect this. Genshin? Honkai? Blue Archive? No contest! Fast loading time both at the start and during switching places (teleport). Can give even Outerplane a fierce competition in terms of loading times and intervals
+ Surprisingly dynamic combat. It's not like Pokemon, not like Epic Seven, not like Persona. It's way more than that. There's an ambush system of course, but there's also called "Techniques" that can be used in the overworld. Heal, powerful ambush, start with buff and more. The ultimate is a nice idea as well, once full you can use it at ANYTIME. So you can use it immediately once it's full (quickly tap it even after your turn just ends). Even during opponents turn.
+ Fun Exploration. Well, the space station at least. The city is good to explore, like we're in a GTA world, for sure, but there's not much to gain. Hold the thought on this though, as I haven't fully explored the second and third world. Ah, speaking of space station.
+ Fun and entertaining side activities like "The Magical Toilet" and "The Perfect Cabinet"
+ Rewards good deeds. Sometimes there are things to do that's not actually a quest, but small stuff like returning an item to it's rightful owner instead of keeping it. You'll be rewarded if you do this, like Guardian Tales.
+ Very chill lobby music in the Space Station. Thank goodness we can change the lobby music of the Astral Express (our main hub, or bridge if you will)
+ Very generous new player rewards, like Honkai Impact. Well, almost at Honkai Impact level.
+ Top Notch Voice Acting (I'm using english)
NEUTRAL
= Sigh, you know it's gonna be here. Story. I didn't mention this in pros, for obvious reasons. It's meh. It's not even on Genshin's prologue chapter level, and that's a pretty low bar. You know what? Tower of Fantasy prologue chapter. Yeah, that's a good comparison. Non interesting characters as well so far. Aside from Asta....Hertha has potential. But yeah, average story and characters. Do not compare this to the likes of Blue Archive and Counterside. Those two immediately draws your attention early on
= Potentially a hassle of a growth system. Heh, you think this is Honkai Impact? Nay, the upgrade system's base is Genshin! Level Up, Memoria (that is, Light Cones), and Trace. You have three stuff you need to grind materials for....BUT WAIT! THERE'S MORE! Of course we had to have Artifacts, or Relics in this case. Hah haaa, welcome back Traveller. Burn those Resins now, hah ha haaa
CONS:
- Still has room for polish. Somehow it's not as polished as Genshin. Example, our characters still does idle animation in the midst of talking. Screen needs to zoom in and zoom out of the main character just so that he/she can wave his/her hand (that's their way of giving response).
- Empty world. No, not the world is empty, the feel is empty. Like, there's no life. Again, the space station is fun. But the next world? It's .... just so empty .....Mondstadt is much more vibrant......eeh you know what? it's like HI's samsara open world, it's that empty. Maybe the next updates will have more vibrant city. But still, first impressions are important for a free game
- Ultimate attacks still have room for improvement. They lack the Boom-Shaka-Laka. Epic Seven has much better animations, and that's 2D. For 3D comparison ...how about this, it's comparable to Marvel Vs Capcom Hyper Combo. Short, but feels lacking. Not as good as, say, Guilty Gear, short but packs quite a punch.
Surprised with how little the amount of cons are? Me too. It really is a solid game to be honest. Unfortunately it's going to be hindered by slow updates like Genshin. But at least in Genshin, we have much more freedom in exploration. Think of this game like a full 3D Another Eden, but with lower story quality. Anyways, give it a try. Like I said, the Space Station is the moment whether you'll like the game or not. And believe me, even with all those CBT, the game still feels like it could've been much better. Does not hold a candle against Genshin 1.0 and Honkai Impact 1.0. Odd? I know ... I'm gonna get torched by Honkai Star Rail superfans aren't I? But this is what it is. My honest review.
Anyway, gonna keep playing because of Asta-chaan~
Also, Aeons? You sure they're not from Kivotos?
....this is not console worthy yet.....
Sigh, I am so sorry for how long it is. And thank you so much for reading.
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Johnpaul-kun
5.0Here is it everyone, this is all what we've been waiting for, let's enjoy this game and have a good time with it! Goodluck to everyone and let's have a great time playing with it.
ХаэльРагнвиндр
5.0Жду эту игру с 21 года и наконец... наконец-то... Я в восторге, что игра вот выходит... Хотя я уже играла на фбт, но всё равно, оф релиз всё-таки, да. Очень люблю стар реил и мужского главного героя, да, спасибо.