Compared to other HoYoverse games, Honkai: Star Rail stands out because of its turn-based combat. The gameplay allows players to choose characters that synergize well with each other and strategize their next moves, creating exciting sequences during battle. On top of that, the turn-based mechanics make Honkai: Star Rail easy for new players to learn, since they don't have to memorize fighting combos like in Genshin Impact and Zenless Zone Zero.
As Honkai: Star Rail progresses, HoYoverse is also constantly innovating characters' abilities to further enhance the gameplay. Players experienced this when Honkai: Star Rail made the Path of Remembrance playable, which introduced "summons" that assist units in battle. HoYoverse likely won't stop there, and a recent report revealed that the developer scrapped a QTE (quick time event) system from the game, which was probably for the best.
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What Happened to Honkai: Star Rail's Supposed QTE System?
In an interview with IGN, Honkai: Star Rail Lead Designer Chengnan An revealed that the developer was initially working on a "Weakness Break QTE," which would let players manually choose an action once they broke an enemy's weakness. While this seemed to be a cool feature for the game, An admitted that it slowed down the flow of combat, so the developer decided to scrap the mechanic. The QTE system would later evolve into what players now know as Honkai: Star Rail's Follow-Up Attacks.
Follow-Up Attacks are automatically triggered under certain conditions, like Herta doing her spin attack when an enemy's HP drops to 50% or Aventurine dropping coins after enemies hit his shields seven times. Sometimes, follow-up actions can also be done by support units, like Luocha's healing when an ally's HP is halved and Bailu's revive ability when a teammate falls.
As mentioned, Honkai: Star Rail stands out among other HoYoverse titles because of its easy-to-learn turn-based combat and the cool synergies that players can create with the right team composition. The Weakness Break QTE would be a cool concept in Honkai: Star Rail, but it could also cause some issues.
The QTE system would require extra steps to be taken every time an enemy's weakness was broken, making the game more difficult to master. It could also overload the game's mobile version, which would affect a huge chunk of people playing Honkai: Star Rail on their phones. Plus, An made a good point about QTEs potentially slowing down the flow of combat, especially after seeing how smooth Follow-Up Attacks look right now. This type of action is particularly useful in Honkai: Star Rail's current meta as many of the new characters have follow-up actions.
Maximizing Follow-Up Attacks in Honkai: Star Rail
There are a number of ways to make the most of Follow-Up Attacks in Honkai: Star Rail. The most basic synergy that players can create is to team up Himeko and Herta, because the former triggers her follow-up action when an enemy's weakness is broken. If the enemy's HP drops to 50%, Herta does her spin attack, which can create a satisfying chain of actions throughout the match. What's great about Himeko and Herta is that if they're powered up properly, their pairing can be used in various battles in the Forgotten Hall, Memory of Chaos, and Pure Fiction if needed.
Players can also create viable follow-up teams that can be used in both Honkai: Star Rail's main story missions and challenge stages with the likes of Feixiao, March 7th (The Hunt), Aventurine, The Herta, and many more. The key to creating a successful Follow-Up Attack team is making sure that each character can automatically trigger the other's follow-up skill in order to deal maximum damage to enemies. If Honkai: Star Rail stuck with a QTE system, this type of gameplay wouldn't be this seamless.
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 83 /100 Critics Rec: 90%
- Released
- April 26, 2023
- ESRB
- Teen / Fantasy Violence, Mild Suggestive Themes, Simulated Gambling, In-Game Purchases (Includes Random Items), Users Interact
- Developer(s)
- HoYoverse (Formerly miHoYo)
- Publisher(s)
- HoYoverse (Formerly miHoYo)
WHERE TO PLAY
- Engine
- Unity
- Genre(s)
- RPG, Turn-Based RPG
