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Honkai Star Rail has been out for just under a week now, garnering money, praise and, of course, fanart. Like any other gacha game, Honkai Star Rail launches with a fairly large roster of characters, doled out in randomized pulls where they’ll compete against, and let’s face it, garbage, for a slot in your party.
Unlike its contemporaries in Hoyoverse’s library though, Honkai Star Rail actually does fairly well in making sure its beginner experience doesn’t, well, suck. A lot of this comes down to that character roster- a common pitfall for any gacha game is the threat of too many 5-star units. Basically, many games will be balanced such that there’s no point using characters that aren’t the highest rarity. Worse still, you could be like NIKKE- its best characters are SSR-rated, but also have some of the lowest pull rates.
That’s not to say Star Rail isn’t boasting some great 5 stars, mind you. Seele has a passive ability ripped straight out of Warhammer 40K where she turns into a locomotive of death by stealing extra turns every time she gets a kill. But to me, the triumph of Star Rail is the fact that its 4-star roster does a good job of feeling like they’d be broken in any other turn-based game, even if getting them’s meant to fill you with disappointment.
I think the best example of this is everyone’s favorite performance-enhancing scientist, Asta. In any other game Asta’s kit is 5-star material- she passively buffs the entire party while doing damage, then hits the gas when her ult is ready to buff their speed. Sure, she might not be S-Tier but it’s a tangible effect you can see rather than something locked away in a menu.
It’s not just her, either- Herta also sports free turn-stealing, while characters like March 7th give you abilities that feel so much more than a standard “support units by giving them shields”. Even if you’re not rolling in 5-stars (very likely if you’re free-to-play), you’re very much going to feel clever for the team you make since so many 4-stars have decent abilities to work with.
Even if it’s not nearly as good as having a built-in nuke, there is a thrill to having these little ability flags come up every single time. Like a floundering politician, 4-stars feel more valuable if they’re seen to be useful- and the best ones in Star Rail also excel at letting you know they’re doing their work.
Remember: it’s not just about being good, it’s about the fact that these abilities feel good to use. Characters like Rosaria in Genshin Impact are numerically good- but the fact the game doesn’t really give you a means to see that outside of realizing why she’s got bigger numbers than other characters. In that sense, some characters absolutely fail this mark. I can’t even recall what Eidolon level my Sampo is at, but he’s never going to join the line up for as long as characters like Herta golf swinging a bunch of robots for free feels like I’ve somehow robbed the game.
As for going forward, Honkai Star Rail’s path isn’t that different from other gacha games. Sure, 5 stars will always bring in more profits, but it’s important to not have losing feel boring, too. If they can occasionally throw out new 4 stars and have them continue to be fun, Honkai Star Rail has a bright future ahead of it.
