Blue Archive - The south Korean Gacha game that almost died, is now being released on Steam this summer.

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Lerias said:
Lol I changed my attack formation in PvP earlier today to Kuroko, Haruka, Hoshino, and Shun (with S.Shiroko and S.Ayane in special) and I won 5/5 matches climbing all the way from like 150th to 50th.

Only Kuroko and Haruka have their UEs, Kuroko UE40 and Haruka UE30. Rest are 3 and 4 stars, I'd imagine it gets even more effective if you have S.Shiroko at UE40. Hearing reports from my friends as well that this attack formation has gotten them at least 4/5 wins.
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it's rather similar to what i was advised to run, difference is that haru has her UE50 and her equips at T8 + hoshi with UE40, T8 equips and T2 bond gear, iori instead of shun and utaha instead of ayane
but i lack kuroko so i'm stuck with only haruka and hoshino, and it sucks since without her i can't make that undefeatable combination
 
We should be getting actual in-game news for the Blue Archive JP's 5th Anniversary on the 2nd day/Sunday 18th Japanese time. What we get for the 1st day so far beyond the 5th PV anniversary is mostly stuff like merch, Kisaki ASMR, whey protein collab, and photos of people visiting the IRL event and showing stuff like 1:1 statue of Gebura and 3D characters preview of students like Rio and Nagusa

I heard they're planning more of those VR interactions too, which means expect story of japanese senseis crying and causing a scene because their student is in there and doing cute and funny like Kazusa last time.
 
Faceless Anime Woman said:
story of japanese senseis crying and causing a scene because their student is in there and doing cute and funny like Kazusa last time.
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One one hand, I like to think that the whole incident is exaggerated as a meme.

On the other, one time I was able to try out a VR headset and one of the games was a shovelware low-poly shooting range simulator was still able to convince my brain that I've been blown up to smithereens, at least for a split second (there's a propane tank nearby you can shoot.) If someone had that same experience except for "Kazusa is real and in front of me" I can believe they'd be genuinely distressed after "snapping back to reality." Especially if the illusion lasted longer and was only broken when a staffer told them their time's up.
 
wtfNeedSignUp said:
I feel like BA has one of the better ratios of memorable to fluff characters, with old characters still having relevance.
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it's not a feeling and it's mostly split in
  1. 90% of the cast having had a presence in the main story, the only schools that aren't backed up by the main story are red winter and shanhaijing, and these two are exceptional since they're mostly unexplored as schools
  2. in cases where the main story is not enough, you've got the rather gargantuan amount of event stories that bolster the relevance of the characters however irrelevant they may be (see the band event with airi and the magical girl event with shimiko as two examples)
  3. and momos doing their thing for every individual character, even if they may detract from it
 
piombo said:
it's not a feeling and it's mostly split in
  1. 90% of the cast having had a presence in the main story, the only schools that aren't backed up by the main story are red winter and shanhaijing, and these two are exceptional since they're mostly unexplored as schools
  2. in cases where the main story is not enough, you've got the rather gargantuan amount of event stories that bolster the relevance of the characters however irrelevant they may be (see the band event with airi and the magical girl event with shimiko as two examples)
  3. and momos doing their thing for every individual character, even if they may detract from it
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It's mainly that most gacha just forget characters after their arc is over. But BA keeps bringing characters back without resorting to some big end of the world event, with most focus on the starting squad and very rarely doing old character variants.
Fatsuit Shinji said:
The studio have said every student in Blue Archive is the main character.
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Except Hina that is an especially main character.
 
wtfNeedSignUp said:
Except Hina that is an especially main character.
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Not sure if it's just a contrarian meme, but some people hate Hina for having too much "screen time" (I guess it could stem from relative lack of Gehenna-focused content, making it feel like Hina is highlighted the expense of rest of the Gehenners.)

Also Hina's presence the Volume 1 Chapter 3 (my opinion of that story has evolved into "Blue Archive equivalent to Star Wars prequel trilogy" - solid themes and core narrative swamped in a less than ideal execution, gets much better in retrospect.) But her sudden appearance makes sense. I think it was someone in this thread who pointed out that while Sensei could call other students, who should be able to stand up to Hoshino in a fight - Hina is the only one who can be trusted to be discreet about this whole thing, and not to escalate the mess even further.
If Sensei had an emergency that merely needed some heavy-hitting firepower, he could call RABBIT Squad, Mika, maybe even Wakamo, but all of these would come with an increasing amount of collateral damage.
 
wtfNeedSignUp said:
I feel like BA has one of the better ratios of memorable to fluff characters, with old characters still having relevance.
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piombo said:
it's not a feeling and it's mostly split in
  1. 90% of the cast having had a presence in the main story, the only schools that aren't backed up by the main story are red winter and shanhaijing, and these two are exceptional since they're mostly unexplored as schools
  2. in cases where the main story is not enough, you've got the rather gargantuan amount of event stories that bolster the relevance of the characters however irrelevant they may be (see the band event with airi and the magical girl event with shimiko as two examples)
  3. and momos doing their thing for every individual character, even if they may detract from it
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I don't play that many different gacha to compare, but this is definitely a point I noticed and am frustrated by in Zenless Zone Zero. It feels like older characters are getting left in the dustbin in terms of both story and power-creeping gameplay in order to sell the new hotness. I was originally sold on Cunning Hares and Section 6, but now it's as if they don't exist. I noticed that some characters are immediately ditched after the patch they're introduced in.

Besides the points already mentioned about how Blue Archive keeps characters relevant, here are some more:
  • I believe one that's very crucial is that alternate outfits (an essential part of many gacha) are treated as completely different gameplay units to pull and play with, accompanied by significant story content via events to rationalize the outfits. Thus characters are able to keep up with the power creep and come back for more story in a manner that's sustainable for the developers. It seems like half of the new unit releases are not actually new characters, but rather alt outfits for old characters.
  • Characters can sometimes have a lot of exposure in story long before they premiere as gameplay units. Rio and Seia are a couple of popular examples.
  • Some characters are natural antagonists, and the low stakes of many stories in Blue Archive easily allows for them reoccur as needed to cause trouble for protagonists. Gourmet Research Society and Hot Springs Department are a few examples. There's no need to be concerned about them being killed off or otherwise permanently dealt with, a problem with antagonists that other long-running media has run into.
 
Overpriced Gaming Chair said:
Not sure if it's just a contrarian meme, but some people hate Hina for having too much "screen time" (I guess it could stem from relative lack of Gehenna-focused content, making it feel like Hina is highlighted the expense of rest of the Gehenners.)

Also Hina's presence the Volume 1 Chapter 3 (my opinion of that story has evolved into "Blue Archive equivalent to Star Wars prequel trilogy" - solid themes and core narrative swamped in a less than ideal execution, gets much better in retrospect.) But her sudden appearance makes sense. I think it was someone in this thread who pointed out that while Sensei could call other students, who should be able to stand up to Hoshino in a fight - Hina is the only one who can be trusted to be discreet about this whole thing, and not to escalate the mess even further.
If Sensei had an emergency that merely needed some heavy-hitting firepower, he could call RABBIT Squad, Mika, maybe even Wakamo, but all of these would come with an increasing amount of collateral damage.
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I'm joking since she got the penultimate shot in the preview. You can go far far worse than Hina in an author's pet candidate, and she doesn't appear at all too.

Not sure anyone else besides Mika would have handled Hoshino without hours of preparation.

Edit: Maybe Neru and Tsurugi.
Edit 2: And the legendary Cath Palug.
 
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Another great idea of theirs is unique gear, it allows units who got powercrept to either get back the position they held, or allows for an alternate way to use them compared to other units in their powerclass. It also allows units that were lacking to get a quick buff. Utaha is a good example, with her unique gear her turrets actually start doing good damage, whereas before they were only used as decoys to eat a big attack.
 
BA4.png

I DID IT!!!
 
The thing about Alt outfits of existing characters in Blue Aka is that aside of the obvious "student with new look and outfit" stuff, you also get bonus in lore that either gives you more details about them or even continuing the student's personal character arc.

It night not do much, but its nice when you saw the progression if you have em.
 
Farm Hand said:
Zenless Zone Zero
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Hoyo games just have a different way of advancing storylines, I reckon.

When did you last hear of someone from Mondstadt in Genshin? Jarilo-VI in Star Rail? Belobog Industries in Zenless? It feels like characters are expendible in those games storyline wise, brought up for one story arc and in the bin they go. Maybe they get buffed or appear in an event but that ends it.

One defense that can be brought up is that the MCs are going on big adventures and old enemies / friends can't last forever. Instead of an evolving and consistent world like BA or GFL, Hoyo games tend to go to a completely different location or faction every few major patches, artificially making the world bigger and again sometimes leaving characters of the old worlds/factions dusted away.

It's subjective is what it is. Do you like a consistent world where the characters stay the same but evolve their personality over time + you discover new and hidden sides about them at the cost of things getting repetitive, or do you want to be an adventurous traveler who constantly has to change worlds for the sake of feeling fresh, meeting new friends and foes, but at the cost of potentially forgetting old ones?
 
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JP will be getting PC client on 20th January (Global doesn't care, but its worth pointing it out)
Decagrammaton storyline will continue, part 1 on 18th and part 2 on 20th. (Realized that they finally learned that you can't make people wait a week for story)

EDIT:
- Rio: Pilot Suit version Limited
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(Featuring probably the first time Yostar lost their control and showcasing actually horny memorial lobby)

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Explosive Attack, Special Armor Middle Striker.

- Himari with space bike Limited
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(yostar will never make her walk, are they)

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Pierce attack Elastic armor Tactical Support/T.S (the one that summon vehicles) Special

- Welfare for the main story EX newest chapter will be Toki in her battle gear/snow parka
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(peace peace)

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Pierce attack light armor middle support striker
 
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Fucking hell Rio's memorial lobby god damn.
Himari does Akira slide in her EX skill animation as well that's fucking sick.
 
Heroine Arisu! (She will be on the 6% blue fest banner after Rio: Sex and Himari: Space Bike)
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(where key)

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Special Attack, Composite Armor Middle Attacker Striker.

yes, you heard me, New Arisu brought a BRAND NEW ARMOR/ATTACK TYPE called "Composition" Armor and "Decomposition" Attack (rough TL).
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Composite Armor/Decomposition Attack rough TL (in teal) is basically:
- Attack: Effective against Heavy Armor, Resisted by Light Armor
- Armor: Resists Special and Sonic
 
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