Half Anniversary! Rare Order: 10 free pulls a day campaign! Until 2/28 23:59 JST
It’s currently HELIOS Rising Heroes’ Half Anniversary and the perfect time to give it a shot!
I first heard about HeliosR from this very sub and have been playing it for about five months now. Previous gachas I’ve played but dropped over the years include Fire Emblem Heroes, Epic Seven, and Arknights.
I also used to play A3!. Other “josei-muke” games (female-targeted media) never interested me because they lacked actual gameplay or were rhythm games.
I’ve finally found the right gacha for me and am here to recommend it! Below is a brief overlook of the game’s main features, as well as some pros and cons.
Character collecting
- There are 16 playable Heroes (an all-male cast). Each character has four initial / original forms ranging from 1* (N) to 4* (SSR). Event gachas are re-skinned versions of these characters (separate Hero cards).
- Great for husbando lovers, but ANYONE can play! The cast has a mix of younger and older characters so the game appeals to both teens and young adults.
- Not for waifu collectors.
Language barrier
- Japanese-only. However, the language barrier to play isn’t too high as the UI uses a lot of English words.
- The Discord community has done their best to make the game more accessible to English-speaking players (see ending notes).
- Can play outside of Japan without VPN.
4* (SSR) Heroes have Epic Seven-like animations.
Visuals
- High-quality graphics. 4* (SSR) Heroes have their own exclusive 2D animation for their ultimate attack (“Burst”) that includes a short anime cut-scene.
- Battle sprites are full-body instead of chibi (though chibi is used for other aspects of the game).
- You can choose from a variety of high-quality CGs for your home screen. Every 3* and 4* Hero comes with two exclusive CGs, and 4* Hero CGs have lighting, particle, and subtle moving effects. Besides that, there aren’t any Live2D animations.
Gameplay features
- Quests are staged-based. A stage is fully cleared when all Heroes are alive at the end of battle. Stages have three difficulties.
- Good for those who enjoy simple 2D turn-based RPGs. The battle system is perfectly balanced in my opinion - nothing too complicated to understand, and it gives you the ability to time your skill usage.
- A dedicated single-player PvE game. There isn’t any PvP, which is good for those who don’t care for “keeping up with a meta” or ranking events. Also no in-game chat or interaction with others besides giving “likes” to players’ bases.
- Some team customization when it comes to team building (link skills) and Frames (like equipment - changes the Hero’s third skill).
- Not for players seeking competitive play or an in-depth strategy game.
Gacha (“Order”)
Gacha rates: any 4* Hero is 2% / any 4* Frame is 3%. Chance to pull the rate-up 4* is half of the respective rates.
Pros
- Has a pity system that guarantees a 4* Hero upon the 100th pull.
- Has a spark system on event banners in the form of medals. Pulling 300 times on the same banner gives you enough medals for a copy of the featured 4* Hero in the shop.
- One free 10-pull for every Hero’s birthday banner. The game also gives free pulls during other occasions such as the current campaign.
- Re-rolling takes 10-15 minutes tops. Since it’s PvE-only, play with your favorite Heroes! (Although, someone in the Discord has made a “tier list” for those interested)
Cons
- Gacha pool is shared between Heroes and Frames.
- Getting the rate-up 4* Hero from pity is still 50/50 chance.
- Spark system’s medals are limited to the event banner you pulled on and don’t carry over to another.
- Coins (non-premium currency) are wasted in the “Coin Order” when pulling 1* Heroes that are already max limit broken.
How well the game respects you & your time
Pros
- Has auto battle and ability to turn off “Burst” animations. A lot of QoL was added since release such as 4x speed setting, an auto AI setting for activating skills, and a filter to select all unwanted fodder Frames at once to level up Frames quickly.
- Most players should have no issues with stamina (AP) - the game gives tons of free AP and item refills.
- No RNG when it comes to stats.
- There are pop-ups in-game - mostly to notify you about running events - but they can be checked off to never appear more than once.
- Players will eventually have more than enough resources to evolve and train all their Heroes. The current bottleneck is “Rainbow King Jacks” but those are only for min/maxing Heroes (and accessible to F2P).
- Can be a casual / side game. Sending Heroes out on “Patrols” (the only “management” feature) will quickly use up most of your natural AP.
Cons
- No sweep/skip tickets or auto-repeat.
- AP is not refunded if you lose/retire from a battle.
- Completing daily missions requires login after 12:00 JST.
- Login bonus screens can be excessive (just mentioning for those who are picky about such things).
Even the low rarity Heroes have their uses.
F2P-friendliness
- Overall, I would say the game is F2P-friendly. Although it takes months to save up for a guaranteed 4*, any Hero of any rarity can be used. In fact, the lower rarity Heroes when max limit broken are stronger than the higher rarity Heroes without limit breaks. I’m able to clear the Expert+ (highest difficulty) event stages with just the welfare Heroes and some manual play.
- F2P can eventually max limit break their 4* Heroes without having to pull dupes.
- It takes time for F2P to save up premium currency for gacha (~5 months to pity a 4* Hero). This is somewhat mitigated with the aforementioned free pulls and campaigns.
Events
- Events are bi-weekly (Hero events - 13 days) or monthly (sector events - 21 days). The grind is not excessive to get the most efficient rewards: all copies of the 3* event Hero plus the 3* and 4* Frames. For more dedicated players, “Hero Emblems” are reasonable milestones to reach with some AP refills. The stuff near the end of the prize list is mostly just extra repeated sets of furniture.
- Events are all similar (point system) with minimal differences, but mainly re-skinned. Regardless, I’d like to point out that these skins are very well-made: creating a new Burst animation, drawing multiple CGs, writing a new story, designing new backgrounds and furniture, etc.
Specs & Technical stuff
- Requires Android 6 and up (7 and up recommended), OpenGL ES3 and up, Snapdragon 835 and up, and at least 3GB of RAM (recommended).
- Bans most emulators (you can only play on specific versions of Nox Player or Bluestacks).
- Can be a battery-drainer. Other than battery saver mode, settings are limited when it comes to displaying graphics.
- Seldom gives errors that return you to the title screen or stuck in infinite loading making you restart the app. (Also, the rare MAGENTA SCREEN OF DEATH! The game still runs - it’s just funny)
Now’s the best time to start playing!
Ending notes
Download links: Play Store / iOS / QooApp
Alongside the Half-Anniversary festival’s 10 free pulls a day campaign includes the on-going Valentines-themed monthly event, past banner reruns, sales, halved AP costs, and twitter campaigns for in-game items and fun bonuses.
The language barrier is probably the biggest reason why people would pass up on games like these, but I found HeliosR to be a great game despite it - even choosing to play it over many other gachas that have a Global version. There’s an unofficial English twitter and Cacalia RPG Discord community that I highly recommend joining. Fellow players and fan translators have done an incredible job in helping English-speaking players understand the game better!
Well, if you’ve made it this far, then I hope this post has sparked your interest in trying out HeliosR!
is there a wiki or somewhere I can have a glance through the cards/their designs in more detail?
