Saber vs Phainon: Collection Pressure, Regret, and Choosing with Intention | Honkai: Star Rail

Nero Atlas
Jul 23
4 min read

📌 The Weight of Collecting 📌

The card is around $145 on Card Trader now... was I right to be worried about it? :P

When I was a kid, collecting wasn’t just a hobby — it was a way of building identity. I didn’t need everything, and I wasn’t jealous of things I’d never seen. If something was completely outside my awareness, I could easily ignore it. But once something crossed that invisible line — once I noticed it and started to care — it became part of me. And losing it felt like losing a piece of who I was.

Even objectively terrible cards from the Pokémon TCG, like Brock’s Rhydon — a clunky attack for 70 damage, four energy cost, double coin flip with a high chance of failure — were precious to me. They were mine. Not because they were useful, but because they had meaning. They represented moments, choices, attachments.

And when I lost one, even by accident, it stung in a way that was hard to explain. That same emotion comes back in gacha games today — quietly, persistently — especially when I’m staring at a limited-time character that might never return. It’s not always about power. Sometimes it’s just about completeness. About not leaving something behind that I once felt could be part of me.

⚔️ Saber: Aesthetics, FOMO, and Ambivalence ⚔️

Saber is a perfect example. A limited-time collab character — likely never returning. I wouldn’t normally pull for her, but knowing she’ll disappear forever creates pressure.

I tested her out. Her animations are smooth, the ultimate is a radiant sword slash that feels like Solar Blade from Leafeon. The battle flow feels close to classic Star Rail 1.0. There’s no English voice acting, oddly enough, but the overall presentation is polished. Still, after testing her… I didn’t feel the desire to keep her.

🪽 Phainon: Innovation and Identity 🪽

Then I tried Phainon.

At first, he looked like a “Sunday 2.0” — similar hair, similar aura. But that wasn’t the point. What struck me was the animation design. His kit is one of the most visually complex and satisfying I've seen in the game.

They're really going over-the-top with the animation kits!

His ultimate transforms him into an “angel of demise” — a raid boss-style entity. His skills become enhanced: starfall, god-mode charge, dimensional slash. Every move is weighty, cinematic, and absolutely over-the-top. It’s not just power — it’s presence.

Phainon feels like the result of months of animation work. Saber, by comparison, has a normal kit with limited visual variety. It’s clear which character got more development time.

🧠 The Real Dilemma: Fear vs Passion 🧠

This brought me to a personal decision:Should I pull for the character I genuinely like — the one whose design and feel excite me — or the one that is exclusive and will never return?

The truth is, gacha systems are designed to push us toward fear-based decisions. Collab characters often don’t return.

The looming "Not Indexed" tag does scare me... but it's something that we have to deal with, when it comes to some games.

Not having Saber means my character index will forever remain incomplete. Even if I someday collect everyone else, there’ll always be a “missing” slot in my logs. That’s not a bug — that’s intentional. It’s part of how these games create long-term emotional pressure.

But should we really let that pressure drive us?

💡 My Take: Pull with Purpose 💡

I made my decision: I pulled for the character I liked — Phainon. If I missed Saber, I’d live with it.

Of course, luck would end up ruining my perfect plan! (I do appreciate the almost free character, ngl)

…But of course, the game gave me the character on the first pull anyway.

I don’t think that invalidates the point. If anything, it reinforces it. I already won by making a choice based on desire, not fear. That’s what matters.

If you’re low on resources, or you’d need to spend real money just to “fill a slot,” ask yourself: is it worth it? Because money is time — time you gave up on fun, on games, on your life. And hoarding resources obsessively? That’s its own kind of prison.

Fun should never feel like obligation.

📝 Final Thoughts 📝

This is Nero Atlas, with today’s entry in the Videogame Journal. I’m not here to talk about meta rankings — both Saber and Phainon are strong. That’s not the point.

Every 5-star character is “viable” because the game needs to sell them. The real conversation isn’t about numbers — it’s about motivation.

Pull because you’re excited. Not because you're afraid to miss out.

Let me know in the comments what you think about collab characters. Do they feel worth it? Did you pull for Saber? For Phainon? And what do you think about Star Rail in 2025, especially after the recent controversy around character power creep?

What character did you pull?

Team Phainon
Team Saber
I got both!
Archer was enough!