HoYoverse released Honkai: Star Rail (HSR) last year in April. It has since then gone through many developments and updates to better the game and its user interface. I personally have played the game since its release.
Many updates and characters have pushed me to continue playing the game with features such as the passive increase of energy make it easier for player like me, as a casual player, to maintain my account. However, the original excitement and player base of the game has dwindled due to several failures.
The first downfall is the game’s power creep. Every new character comes with higher damage output in the open world and Simulated Universe. Every new five-star requires new materials, more weapons, and more artifacts.
Jing Yuan was one of the first five-star characters released in the game. Although he is still a powerful unit, his damage output and compatibility with later units in teams isn’t that great.
The power creep is very similar to other gacha (or character summoning) games. The simple process of these games is that new characters are released frequently with better mechanics that make them more powerful. The power creep is not a statement on HSR being a bad game but rather on failing to mitigate battle mechanics to make a diverse set of characters with varying abilities and elements that make the progression of power less evident or less impactful.
A key part to this critique is the lack of diversity in classes paired with elements. The game has seven different paths that have varying purposes in the team. Destruction acts as a tank while dealing substantial damage. The Hunt, although typically single-target, deals great amounts of damage. Harmony is a supportive path that boosts party members. The path system is well established to create many different kinds of characters.
The elements themselves have their own form of reactions when applied to enemies making their correlation to the classes an interesting mix of mechanics. Seven elements and seven paths can make a large amount of characters without intersecting units with the same path and element.
For example, Boothill is a Physical character following the path of the Hunt. Physical attacks can cause enemies to bleed and deal additional damage which works for his single-target focus. Furthermore, he relies on Break Effect (breaking enemy shields) to deal a lot of damage to enemies. He’s a good character to look at to distinguish how varied and intricate HoYoverse can create their characters to fit in the world of HSR.
These mechanics create a diverse set of characters as evidenced as how there are already 59 characters in the game, each with their own stories and battle mechanics. However, there are clear gaps in the system in which HoYoverse ignores the battle mechanics in their game.
The Preservation is a path that is all about defense, creating shields for characters to minimize damage from enemies. This class has the lowest number of units in the game standing at only three units, five when including the Trailblazer and March 7th who are able to switch paths. Erudition and Abundance hold the second least amount of characters at seven total characters in each path.
It’s a large gap that shows how certain battle mechanics get neglected. Understandably, a part of why this gap exists is due to the player base. Heavy hitting units who deal a lot of damage are appealing to players. HoYoverse likely saw more sales with heavy-hitting character such as these and created more of them to take advantage of this.
For example, Acheron is a Nihility character. Nihility is often the path that debuffs enemies. Acheron put a spin on the path by instead dealing more damage based on the number of debuffs placed on an enemy. Her battle mechanics put a twist onto the usual Nihility path making her a great damage dealing character. She could’ve just been another debuffing unit, but the appeal of damage-dealing characters likely influenced her battle style.
Characters like Acheron and Boothill showcase how HoYoverse can create characters with specialized battle mechanics but may find trouble with selling it because of said mechanics and damage outputs.
The necessity of bringing in sales to continue development pushes the power creep to continue rather than be resolved. HSR runs like a classic gacha game with new and improved characters to add to teams and letting go of older and weaker units.
The other failure that comes with this situation is the grinding. Each character requires their own level up materials, weapon and weapon level up materials, and relics. Their talents and passive talents also need to be activated and leveled up. In the end, a lot of materials are needed to fully develop a character.
Grinding requires a lot of in-game energy. Most of my day-to-day routine in the game is grinding for more materials to develop my characters into usable units. It becomes a rather repetitive routine that often ends up with me leaving the game for a few days, only coming back once in a while when it interests me. In part, I suffer from this decisions because it makes me miss out on character banners and event rewards that could have furthered my account. The game becomes less casual friendly as a result.
Alongside the actual mechanics of the game, the story has lost its shine for me. I began the game with a lot of excitement, eager to learn about the new characters and follow the Trailblazer in heading to their destiny. Now, I find myself struggling to get through the story content. That’s not to say the story isn’t well-written and great. I just personally have lost interest in it, and there has not been a “spark” so to speak that has pushed me to find intrigue in the storyline.
Furthermore, the vast amount of event content that comes out makes it overwhelming. New characters and places are introduced through the events. Although many events get catalogued and can be returned to even after the limited rewards expire, it leads to a long list of events and story missions to look back at and try to complete when possible.
A big issue with my lack of interest in the story comes with unlocking certain new areas and locations. Without them unlocked, quite a few materials are locked away from my access as well as relics to improve my characters. For a casual player like myself, it makes HSR a very overwhelming and time-consuming game. Even with a fast-forward button in battle and an auto button in dialogue during stories, I struggle to make my way through all the content.
In most cases, having so much content would be a delight. However, with the vast amount of content with the additional time needed for grinding for resources, it feels more like a chore rather than a game.
I’m a huge fan of HoYoverse’s game Genshin Impact that has a similar problem with grinding and story being time-consuming. Although they share these problems, I think Genshin Impact handles the issue better. Each nation’s story contributes to a larger storyline of finding the traveler’s sibling and uncovering Teyvat’s war-filled history. It feels more purposeful compared to HSR where the Trailblazer is travelling wherever with the Astral Express for refuge because of the dangerous Stellaron in their body. The combat in Genshin Impact feels more diverse and varied compared to HSR, particularly because the units aren’t limited by paths and set positions in a team that make them only viable as a support or shielding character.
For me, HSR fails in providing meaningful story of their characters and the protagonist. Furthermore, the battle and character mechanics lack diversity despite the many features of the system through paths and elements. The game had a great amount of potential, but it feels to lack because it caters more to what sells well rather than what diversifies the experience of the game. Players like myself feel like they should always want the newest character because they have the highest damage or best support skills. There’s always going to be grinding needed to better characters and develop them into usable units.
The failure of Honkai: Star Rail lies in its inability to mitigate its progress. Units quickly fall out of popularity or use because there’s a shinier and newer version of the character. The story loses its shine because it progresses without an end, only a vaguely known destiny the Trailblazer will encounter.
What are your thoughts on the game? Did you argue against my points or agree? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below or in our Boss Rush Discord!
Image Source: HoYoverse
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