One of the problems with discussing Honkai: Star Rail as a game and especially its issues is that any discussion will eventually end up seeming manufactured by what is discussed of the game. It's easy to criticize MHY's use of gacha, its general gameplay, the Trailblazer Level's existence, so on and so forth. These are valid complaints, but still lead to the same general conversation. Here's the thing, though: this becoming the same conversation ends up bringing light to what Star Rail's biggest issue is.
It's literally Genshin Impact again.
Like, okay sure same developers leads to some homogenization. Believing in auteur theory as I do means that there's fun to find the parallels and fingerprints that creatives have when discussing their works, and Mihoyo games are very similar with their constant recycling of characters in an attempt to make some sort of hints to a multiversal storyline. Even then, many of Star Rail's issues are Genshin's issues. There's some very surface level writing and clear appeal to make one attached to characters quickly and hope to roll them in the gacha, which also connects to Genshin and Star Rail's issues in that every banner is a limited banner. Genshin's character progress is ripped out and placed into Star Rail, while also having the same character structure of two main attacks and an ultimate. Someone more immersed into both Genshin and Star Rail could probably extract more; regardless, this also makes Star Rail a very derivative work, not just in how its constant recycled aspects in both story and gameplay create something very similar to what Mihoyo has made before, but in that their inspirations are so quite transparent that it becomes the work.
When I started the game and saw the title screen, my first instict was to think of Leiji Matsumoto's Galaxy Express 999; an odyssey between its two leads as they explore various locales in the world. It's quite episodic, but still quite clearly is part of Leiji's universe with the appearance of Captain Harlock and the rest of his pirate group at times. Perhaps a somewhat unintentional parallel; trains aren't exclusive to Leiji's works, but part of it also reflects Star Rail's clear inspiration being the Trails series; there is a clear, core cast in a more episodic work that ends up still moving a main story onwards. It felt somewhat of a combination of Trails in the Sky's road trip aspects and Zero's very controlled main party, and it's clearly notable once one has played through those games and dives into Star Rail. Not even in simple presentation and story does this referential nature stop existing; I vividly remember in Jerilo-VI's story (was that the name? I'm not double checking) where Hook, a very clear way of baiting into players rolling for her if one is somehow enjoying her as a character, points out that Sampo (another gacha bait character) was last seen in a fight club. My first instinct was "lol like the movie", before seeing the dialogue choice distinctly references the first rule of fight club. Maybe call me joyless but that somewhat took me out as this was my first taste of this location's clear discriminatory issues between its class struggles, and instead of continuing to represent this in a way that expands the setting and we understand more what is happening behind the scenes, we're being dragged for constant quick shows of characters in the hopes one is baited to like them while constantly being self referential to contemporary world aspects. Like, why is the metaverse mentioned and why can we directly chastise Herta for it? I assume the idea is that the player is some sort of fifth-dimensional being who takes shelter in the Trailblazer's body, but Herta also recognizes it when we call her out...?
Regardless of this small nitpicking, Star Rail fails to make a strong case to enjoy it outside of the most surface level generation of dopamine with its gameplay. Which I can and will admit that its presentation is top notch: the combat, even if basic and hampered by being part of Mihoyo's gacha, still feels very nice to do succesfully. The visuals are nice, even if the character designs aren't very good (though better than Genshin's, I'll give it that) the world constantly pops in continuously varied ways. I, honestly, wouldn't mind continuing if the Trailblazer Level wasn't a thing that gatekeeps players from doing progress. I could get past its pure, clear unoriginality if it wasn't forcing players to grind. Soshage's just like that, though, and sometimes you really don't have to try at all to hide the clear bait if it works.
It's literally Genshin Impact again.
Like, okay sure same developers leads to some homogenization. Believing in auteur theory as I do means that there's fun to find the parallels and fingerprints that creatives have when discussing their works, and Mihoyo games are very similar with their constant recycling of characters in an attempt to make some sort of hints to a multiversal storyline. Even then, many of Star Rail's issues are Genshin's issues. There's some very surface level writing and clear appeal to make one attached to characters quickly and hope to roll them in the gacha, which also connects to Genshin and Star Rail's issues in that every banner is a limited banner. Genshin's character progress is ripped out and placed into Star Rail, while also having the same character structure of two main attacks and an ultimate. Someone more immersed into both Genshin and Star Rail could probably extract more; regardless, this also makes Star Rail a very derivative work, not just in how its constant recycled aspects in both story and gameplay create something very similar to what Mihoyo has made before, but in that their inspirations are so quite transparent that it becomes the work.
When I started the game and saw the title screen, my first instict was to think of Leiji Matsumoto's Galaxy Express 999; an odyssey between its two leads as they explore various locales in the world. It's quite episodic, but still quite clearly is part of Leiji's universe with the appearance of Captain Harlock and the rest of his pirate group at times. Perhaps a somewhat unintentional parallel; trains aren't exclusive to Leiji's works, but part of it also reflects Star Rail's clear inspiration being the Trails series; there is a clear, core cast in a more episodic work that ends up still moving a main story onwards. It felt somewhat of a combination of Trails in the Sky's road trip aspects and Zero's very controlled main party, and it's clearly notable once one has played through those games and dives into Star Rail. Not even in simple presentation and story does this referential nature stop existing; I vividly remember in Jerilo-VI's story (was that the name? I'm not double checking) where Hook, a very clear way of baiting into players rolling for her if one is somehow enjoying her as a character, points out that Sampo (another gacha bait character) was last seen in a fight club. My first instinct was "lol like the movie", before seeing the dialogue choice distinctly references the first rule of fight club. Maybe call me joyless but that somewhat took me out as this was my first taste of this location's clear discriminatory issues between its class struggles, and instead of continuing to represent this in a way that expands the setting and we understand more what is happening behind the scenes, we're being dragged for constant quick shows of characters in the hopes one is baited to like them while constantly being self referential to contemporary world aspects. Like, why is the metaverse mentioned and why can we directly chastise Herta for it? I assume the idea is that the player is some sort of fifth-dimensional being who takes shelter in the Trailblazer's body, but Herta also recognizes it when we call her out...?
Regardless of this small nitpicking, Star Rail fails to make a strong case to enjoy it outside of the most surface level generation of dopamine with its gameplay. Which I can and will admit that its presentation is top notch: the combat, even if basic and hampered by being part of Mihoyo's gacha, still feels very nice to do succesfully. The visuals are nice, even if the character designs aren't very good (though better than Genshin's, I'll give it that) the world constantly pops in continuously varied ways. I, honestly, wouldn't mind continuing if the Trailblazer Level wasn't a thing that gatekeeps players from doing progress. I could get past its pure, clear unoriginality if it wasn't forcing players to grind. Soshage's just like that, though, and sometimes you really don't have to try at all to hide the clear bait if it works.