Who the fuck would even want Saten?
Blue Archive is a lot like many Chinese developed mobile games in the vain of it being another ragtag gacha extravaganza filled to the brim with chibi character models and lots of pretty women. Because the Chinese know exactly what their audience wants unlike western corporations, heterosexual male gamers have seemingly been disfranchised away from the video games industry with their only salvation coming from the likes of Arknights, NIKKE and Azur Lane.
Blue Archive is a mobile game created by Nexon and distributed in Japan by Yostar.
The game was launched in 2021 and is available for Android and iOS devices, it’s immensely popular as a mobile game that panders towards males who like women would but I’d go as far as to state that there’s more fanart of the original characters of Blue Archive than there are those who play the game, much akin to Azur Lanes immense popularity, Blue Archive also intends to venture out with its own anime adaptation in the near future.
Simplistic mobile games that allow you to unlock and acquire more pretty women, and more often than not these mobile games partner up with other prominent franchises for in-game collaborations, such as was the case with Goddess of Victory: NIKKE collaborating with NieR:Automata.
During a livestream event, an exciting partnership was revealed between the Japanese edition of Blue Archive and A Certain Scientific Railgun T. This collaboration will usher in fresh furniture and exclusive characters for players to acquire during the limited timed event.
Players will have the opportunity to obtain three characters: Mikoto Misaka, Misaki Shokuhou, and Ruiko Saten.
The inclusion of Saten Ruiko makes absolutely zero sense, given how she is portrayed as being a “level 0” esper in the Toaru Kagaku no Railgun / Toaru Majutsu no Index franchise.
She is essentially useless, so obviously her character will simply be given to players during this exclusive event which runs from October 24th to November 8th.
Alongside the lack of other prominent characters such as Shirai Kuroko and Index herself, it does at least hold some significance with the inclusion of Mikoto Misaka and more surprisingly Misaki Shokuhou, it’s certainly better than nothing but it goes without saying that this collaboration could have been far better.
Within the realm of Blue Archive, Mikoto assumes the role of an attacker character in the middle lane, her unique capability inflicts shock damage over time through her standard skill. The presence of shock damage is quite fitting, given the nature of her “railgun” esper ability.
Regarding Misaki, she serves as both an attacker and supporter who also operates from the middle lane. Notably, she has the ability to enhance her own defense and evasion with each instance of inflicting Confusion upon an enemy.
As far as their actual portrayals in the game itself, as you’d probably guess if you’re a fan of the Toaru Kagaku no Railgun / Toaru Majutsu no Index franchise that Mikoto Misaka and Misaki Shokuhou are both presented as being “three star” striker units in Blue Archive, given how both are “level 5” espers.
Saten given how she is basically a punchline with flesh in her respective franchise is a one star special unit that mainly focuses on supporting the rest of the team by raising their attack damage, she is basically a “welfare” unit that can be obtained by simply participating in this limited run event while Misaki and Mikoto are both exclusive to gacha pulling on their respective banners.
The Toaru Kagaku no Railgun / Toaru Majutsu no Index franchise are more or less given out like free candy, given their collaborations with other mobile games such as KonoSuba: Fantastic Days as well as Figure Fantasy and even BANG DREAM! GIRLS BAND PARTY!
This collab certainly puts a smile on my face given that I have a particular soft spot for A Certain Magical Index.
