Solo Leveling: Arise Overdrive has a demo available on Steam

 I just tried the new demo of Solo Leveling: Arise Overdrive on my Steam Deck.

 I've never used a controller with the original game, so it wasn't the easiest to play. However, it worked very well for what it is/  I got through one dungeon battle somehow with a SSS at the end. 

The display only goes to 1280x720, so the graphics seemed okay and mostly, the text was legible.  The audio was in Japanese and that worked as well as it does on Windows. 

I'm feeling a bit enthusiastic that they've got it working for Steam Deck.  Maybe, they can get their other games working on Steam Deck, as well.  I've heard that you can play Genshin Impact on Steam Deck, but you can't load it through Steam and that is their interface, unless you go into Desktop Mode. 

Update 2025.11.22: Is it worth US$40?  It's ready but will people buy it?

I used to buy all of my games.  There were no gacha games, so companies did their best to draw you into the game's world and keep you there.  Occasionally, there were add-ons and fixes, but rarely did that happen.  After the internet evolved, a few games required an online connection and fixes arrived by telephone cables.

 I'm not sure that anyone will buy the game, since the original is available for free.  I have too much time invested in the original. 

Solo Leveling: Arise End of Summer and Four Months of Play

They're about to make some changes and there is a live broadcast in 2.5 hours.  The chat seemed pretty serious about the little girl characters not being appropriate.  It's ridiculous how most of these freemium games are pushing Objectifaction of females, but children should be off-limits.  Every time I play Giant Arachnid with Amamiya Mirei, I'm surprised to see up her skirt when the Giant Arachnid rises from the playing floor.

 

 It feels like a short time and there have been a lot of changes.  When I got my hands on the game, it felt familiar to Hoyoverse Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail.  Many of the items have different names but have similar mechanisms.

The most unusual aspect of the game is the character level.  You earn it by playing.  There is no Trial of Equilibrium or facing a beast of the correct kind to receive the leftovers once it is defeated.  You just play and claim funds and play more.

This is where I am:

Character level 78
Reputation level 43
Battle Tier 20, 288,256
Mining Team Level 24 127/1000
Difficulty 22

Chapter 18 on Normal
Chapter 11 on Hard
Chapter 3 on Reverse

Challenges Chapter 16

That's decent.  I look at CM Prizm with everything at maximum and I feel okay because I worked to get this far.  You can't cheat to accomplish the story levels.  There are no tricks.  I'm sure people pay loads to get the correct weapons that I'm getting more slowly.

I have spent some money, but nothing on the scale that I've seen Genshin Impact players spend.  One person I know spent US$200+ and I was shocked.  I haven't spent anything and I'm at AR 43 now.  It's similar to how I have dealt with Honkai: Star Rail, except that my characters are all at level 80, with decent Light Cones, etc.  I didn't think that I could get to maximum without spending money, but it's possible.

I know that getting from Character level 78 to 85 will be more challenging.  I'm on Story Chapter 18 and it seems to end at Chapter 20 so far.  Difficulty 22 has been difficult enough and I'm not as good with the ice bears on A-rank red gates and I haven't played an S-rank red gate for a while because it just isn't working for me.  I should be playing a higher difficulty but until I can do better, I'm being more cautious.  What's strange is that on the red gates, I'm on manual control and the game still seems to be controlling the player somewhat.

I have all but five of the SSR-ranked characters.  I have all of the SR-ranked characters, working to get all of the exclusive weapons crafted.  The Summer edition helped with great characters and weapons for free.

I've been lucky to draw the best stuff.  For Sung Jinwoo, I was using SR-ranked and R-ranked weapons up until Character level 25 but it's better now, with an SSR-ranked weapon in each category.  It's good to have two SSR-ranked fire element weapons when dealing with the ice bears.  Most of the SSR-ranked weapons have skills up to level 5 and even to level 6 on some skills.  That's too low, I'm sure, but that's why Difficulty 22 is where I'll be for a while.  Getting the level 78 artifacts will have to wait.

Upgrading skills has been expensive in terms of resources.  I'm sure I could do better if I spent actual money on what I need.  I always try to spread the resources to the three (sometimes, six) Hunters I feel can do the most good.  Giving resources to Hunters that have little chance of winning doesn't make sense.

Time to Play

I've been playing for almost one hour.  First thing I've noticed is that I have to click/tap 3 times to get the interface to respond.  I appreciate the maintenance compensation and the codes to redeem, but why make the game perform more poorly?

Having developed business software, language translators, and more, I know that you get it going correctly, first.  Then, you take the time to make it better.  In a year, it will be as smooth as melted butter but I'm playing now.

At least, when playing Gates, it seems about the same as previous versions.  Hopefully, that will be the same for the biggest bosses.

Did anyone get anything useful out of the weapons draw coupon?  I salvaged the whole lot.  Those Hunter weapons needed leveling up, so it wasn't all bad.  Hopefully, I will have all the SSR-ranked Hunter weapons to level 80 within the next two weeks.

Reputation level is 44 now.

Update 2024.09.12: Character level is 79 as of this morning.  I raised my Difficulty level to 23 but will probably raise that to 24 this evening.  I'm not pushing enough to get the better artifacts.  There was a box of level 78 artifacts waiting for me, but I could only choose 1 of the 8 available.

Update 2024.09.13: There was another box of level 78 artifacts waiting for me.  Hopefully, there will be six more and I will get the whole set.  Do I change Sung Jinwoo out of the summer sets of artifacts?

Does Manage Teams work correctly for anyone else?  I changed the teams to reflect fire, wind, water, etc. and I changed Sung Jinwoo's weapons to match the Hunters but the weapons are changed everywhere.

While working with teams, my Battle Tier was increased to level 21.

Update 2024.09.14: The next set of artifacts box was available.  Now, I have 3 of the 8 in the set.  I will wait patiently.  Lots of little changes but the annoying delays need something to be fixed.  Clicking/tapping up to 5 times to do anything is too much.

Update 2024.09.15: Another artifact box was available.  They all say "Greed" but do they all match?  Reputation level is up to 45.

Update 2024.09.16: Character level is 80.  That was the original limit.  It's also the limit in Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail.  Now, the limit is 90 for Solo Leveling: Arise.  Given that there are no tests or special items to use to rise to this level, does it matter?  Is it just another number?

Update 2024.09.19: The game had a promotion to craft some level 78 artifacts of the kind they gave away.  I had the Boots and Gloves of the Burning Greed, so I crafted the Helmet and Body Armor of the same type.  Unfortunately, I don't know whether I'll get the other pieces of the Burning Greed or fill the extra artifacts of the Burning Curse or the Burning Blessing.  I have some of those.

I've been trying to handle everything in the game and that's just not possible.  I had my birthday yesterday, so I just did as much as I could after going out to eat.  The Guild requires a lot to finish the daily requirements.  I haven't finished the whole set since last week.

The game seems overly buggy right now.  I've seen some small updates, but nothing to take care of the 3-5 clicks/taps problem I have.  I can hope, though.

In the middle of Challenges Chapter 15, I'm making progress.  It requires many of the Reverse Story episodes.  Challenges shows you every corner of the game.

 

Update 2024.09.22: Character level is 81.  Reputation level is 46.  Battle Tier is 22.  Challenges Chapter is 15.  In Story mode, I'm at Normal Chapter 18, Hard Chapter 11, and Reverse Chapter 6.  The Guild is small, with only three of us.  I feel that my levels are okay, not great.  I see the same names at the top and I expect that they started during the beta testing and got some extra free items and then, they spent a lot of money.  I don't want to spend money, even though I have spent some.

 

Update 2024.09.25: Got a Sung Jinwoo weapon up to level 100.  Continuing to progress, even if it is slow.  Managed to get enough resources to limit break another weapon on the way from level 80 to level 100.  Reputation level is up.  Draw tickets have been a bit light lately, so I've been filling the gap with Essence Stones.  Still have a lot but I have to slow down on using them.  Got one of the new SSR-ranked characters but I'd rather have Cha Hae-In at this point.  I could use a second light element character.

I've been trying to get the Hunter's skills up a few levels.  Noticed that a couple of the newer SSR-ranked Hunters have level 3 skills.  Go Gunhee is one of them and he's most powerful.  I can't imagine if everything of his was at maximum levels.

I bought/exchanged the Trinity Force 7-day buff through the Guild Exchange Shop, and it's excellent.  I made it through a rough patch of the story with Kalgalgan and more.

 

Update 2024.09.26: Character level is 82 and Reputation level is 47.  I got another Sung Jinwoo weapon to level 100.  I was working the Gates and the story in Hard, Normal, and Reverse modes.  Tried everything to get enough power to struggle through the Hidden Chapters of the Story.

Playing some of the side stories made me realize that I haven't updated some of the early Hunters I used.  Skills are low on every character but I tried to balance it over the few I needed.  Having so many good Hunters and weapons means that I spread the resources thin.  Returning to early story chapters meant that I would use characters that were fine then, but in Hard mode, wouldn't make it.

As I continue, will SR-ranked weapons for Sung Jinwoo even be useful?  I have two SSR-ranked dark-oriented weapons at level 80.  I only have one wind-oriented weapon and that's at level 100.  As well, my only light-oriented SSR-ranked weapon is at level 100.  Both of my fire-oriented SSR-ranked weapons are at level 80.  The skills of each are level 5 or 6.  I have one water-oriented weapon at level 80 and the other is at level 47.

Update 2024.09.28: Reputation level is at 48.  Most SSR-ranked weapons for Hunters are at level 80.  One is not quite to level 60, another is at level 40, and the third is under level 20.  Having new Hunters and their weapons every month can be inconvenient.  Since I have the whole Greed set of artifacts now, I've got those on Sung Jinwoo and the Battle Tier is up another level.

It's going to be a while for the couple of Precision Design bits I need to Limit Break another weapon past level 80.  They "offered" a pack with one of the Precision Design bits but not two.  I'm guessing that the next "offer" wouldn't be three times the price.  That one might give me two of what I needed, just to keep me wanting more of them.

Update 2024.10.02: Reputation level is 49.  Continuing to continue.  More weapons leveled up.  Using Harper for my daily Level up a Hunter.  Got her weapon with one Advance and a lot of extra pieces in order to craft Advance number two.

Update 2024.10.05: Character level is 83.  The exclusive weapon for Go Gunhee is going to level 100.  Since that weapon had 4 Advances, it was the best to level up.  I also have the light-oriented weapon for Cha Hae-In, but I don't have her.  I just got Baek Yoonho, not beast version but I already have that one.

Recently, I kept wondering about the Army of Shadows.  The game was informing me about changing numbers but didn't remind me about making modifications to the shadow characters themselves.  Suddenly, the battles are going better.  More resources needed again.

I'm still far from the top, not that being at the top would make a real difference in my life, but it would be interesting for a moment.

Once I'm at character level 90 and there is no further to go, can I concentrate on being better?  Will there be more to do?

Update 2024.10.07: Up to Reputation level 50.  The weapon for Go Gunhee is at level 100.

Solo Leveling: Arise after three months

 I'm at character level 70 and Reputation level 36.  I started playing on May 8, 2024.

I have several SSR-ranked characters:

• Amamiya Mirei
• Meilin Fisher
• Yoo Soohyun
• Alicia Blanche
• Lee Bora
• Woo Jinchul
• Choi Jong-In
• Silver Mane Baek Yoonho
  

I have several SSR-ranked weapons for Sung Jinwoo:

• Moonshadow
• Vulcan's Rage
• Thetis' Grimoire
•  Demon King's Longsword
• Shadow Scythe
• The Huntsman
• Skadi
• Secured Marlin Surfboard
• Demonic Plum Flower Sword

and, more SSR-ranked weapons for Hunters:

• Overdrive Exclusive for Yoo Soohyun
• Sword of Light Exclusive for Cha Hae-In
  
• Bunny Bunbun Exclusive for Amamiya Mirei
• Howling White Tiger's Soul Exclusive for Silver Mane Baek Yoonho
• Ice Witch Exclusive for Alicia Blanche
• Hook, Line, and Sinker Exclusive for Meilin Fisher
• Another Level Exclusive for Woo Jinchul
• Unparalleled Bravery  Exclusive for Seo Jiwoo
• Sturdy Shark Water Gun
• What Never Was Exclusive for Lee Joohee

Building up to level 70 has been interesting.  I was surprised a few weeks back when the enemies were at level 85.  How do you defeat someone 20 levels above your characters?

I keep trying to get weapons to their maximum level, and on Sung Jinwoo's weapons, get the weapon's skills to their maximum level.  The main problem is a lack of credits and other resources.  Thetis' Grimoire and Vulcan's Rage are most used right now, but Shadow Scythe and Moonshadow are equally important, along with Demon King's Longsword.  I may still need SR-ranked weapons but with further drawings, more SSR-ranked weapons have arrived.

Getting the Hunters to their maximum is equally important, and equally dependent on resources.  Amamiya Mirei, Yoo Soohyun, and Lee Joohee are my top three at the moment.  I got a number of Lee Joeehee during drawing and therefore, she's very powerful for an SR-ranked character.  She's equipped with the Sturdy Shark Water Gun.  I recently became aware that I could craft an exclusive weapon for her, What Never Was, and I'm getting that up to level 60, but I'm not sure it will be as powerful as Sturdy Shark Water Gun with multiple levels of Advance.

At this level, certain gates are incredibly easy to finish and others seem impossible to finish.  An S-ranked red gate with bears are sometimes possible to finish, but not often.  One thing that was holding me back was that I had Semi-automatic engaged.  That works fine on a normal gate but not on a red gate.  As I've switched to manual, the system isn't fighting me.

I almost always do extra gates after the 15 keys are finished, if just for the weapon upgrade materials and credits.  I don't bother with gold gates at all.  Red gates come in handy occasionally, but as I've leveled higher, I don't see as much return for the effort, even with an SSS result.

Solo Leveling: Arise or Genshin Impact or Honkai: Star Rail?

There are a lot of similarities in how things work.  The technical terms may be different, .e.g. Weapons vs Light Cones but they aren't so totally different.

Obviously, the open world of Genshin Impact is amazing.  Teyvat has a lot to see.  I still haven't seen that much, even though I'm at account level 42.  Honkai: Star Rail has some, limited movement, like an open world on rails.

Solo Leveling: Arise is very limiting at the moment.  Outside of each dungeon, there is no movement.  Even the lobby feels like a dungeon without combat.  Story mode is sometimes engaging, but I'm not sure I would put it on a level with the other two.

The work that went into all three of them is amazing.  The other two are more refined but had rough edges when they were new.  I'm sure that Solo Leveling: Arise will be amazingly smooth at some point.

The various battle modes are good, but it almost always feels repetitive.  There should be more venues, different magical beings, or something else that will surprise.  I'm not suggesting that they have a crossover, as they do with the mobile games but something a bit different would be interesting.

Update 2024.08.13: Reputation level is up to 37 and Character level is halfway to 71 now.  Little by little, everything will be up to maximum.  I've played several battle modes lately, but I can't be sure that there has been progress.  At times, the victories are so easy that I'm not sure that I was playing an S-ranked gate, until I get to a red S-ranked gate and I lose.

I continue to make comparisons with Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail because there are so many similarities.  Nothing works the same but increasing power certainly has similarities with a distinct difference or two.

One question: will Solo Leveling: Arise be around for its first anniversary?  It's moving so quickly, I wonder how it will continue.

Update 2024.08.15: Character level is 71 now.

Update 2024.08.17: Reputation level is up to 38.  Did a 10-ticket Custom Draw and got Phoenix Soul, which seems to be more powerful than Vulcan's Rage, which I've been using.

 

Update 2024.08.21: New codes available and I'm up to Reputation level 39 and Character level 72.

Update 2024.08.25: Character level is 73 and Army of Shadows is up to level 26.  Got Phoenix Soul to level 60, but don't have the Precision Design resource to level break.  I had several of them from the lower levels but can't seem to be lucky enough to get them during Dungeon Breaks.

I've noticed a problem with Dungeon Breaks and Undead Knight Eldhelm.  Sung Jinwoo can't move until attacked.  I haven't noticed a problem with the other bosses.

There seem to be loads of little things to do in the Happy 100th day area and in the Guild area.  The Guild boss is quite frustrating to fight but there are goodies to be had.

 

Reputation level 40 doesn't have any surprises.

Update 2024.08.26: I just slid through Chapters 15.5, 16, and 17.  Character level is now 74. I was working on the Side Chapter from Chapter 16 with Cha Hae-In and the demo version of her was not powerful enough.  Through the battle, the game was automatically switching back to her.  The first time through it, she was killed, so I had two of my own Hunters and they were doing okay, but no better.  With all three at the end, it ended poorly.

The trouble with Chapter 18 is that the battle at level 70 is probably going to be too much.  I haven't had much luck with level 70 battles so far but the battles at 60, 61, and 62 have gone pretty quickly.  Maybe, it could work out okay.

Also, have Sung Jinwoo up to Monarch of Shadows: Rebel Leader.  Now, Character level is 75.  There were 30 extra points for the job change and 5 more points for the Character level rise.  Battle Tier is also up, of course.

Update 2024.08.27: I've got Go Gunhee and Han Se-Mi, along with Emma Laurent.  I've also got the exclusive weapons for the first two.  I was splitting the crafting bits and finished the weapon for Han Se-Mi not long after I got her and then, one of the 100th day celebrations handed me a choice for either weapon.  I can still craft another weapon for Go Gunhee and get an Advance, since I have more than 50 crafting bits.

Also, I'd pretty much forgotten about the Challenge list.  I didn't have enough power to get far at the beginning.  Now, I'm trying to do it all at once.  I will be waiting for Character level 76 to finish the next item in the list, but there is a lot more to go.

Update 2024.08.30: Character level is 76 and Reputation level is 41.  Just got Seo Jiwoo and her weapon was already at level 51.  I've been attempting to complete the Guild Daily List every day, which seems considerable.  The Challenge List is up a couple of Chapters, with Custom Draw Tickets for each completed Chapter.

There are only three of us in the Guild, out of the 50 slots available.  The Guild is only at level 1 and 10% of the points to reach level 2.

Update 2024.09.04: Character level is 77 and Reputation level is 42.  The Summer promotion is almost finished but there are still some weapon fragments to use to craft weapons.

I keep finding bugs, so I hope they're getting them fixed, as well as adding new content.  The Power of Destruction doesn't seem to signal that there has been a second battle finished.  It's not showing up in the Guild List.  The Shop delays seem to be fewer.

They've come a long way in a short time, but to reach the success of Hoyoverse, they're going to need more.

Update 2024.09.07: Reputation level is up to 43.  Trying to hit all of the Challenges to catch up but there are many.  It's like cleaning.  You clean a little every day, it's not bad.  You wait for a week or two, and it's bad.  You wait longer and you need to call for a dumpster.  I think I'm in Challenges Chapter 11 right now.  It's moving pretty well and those 10 Custom Draw Tickets every time you complete a chapter are useful.

Update 2024.09.08: Character level is now 78.  That's only another 7 levels from maximum.  Isn't that strange that it's been about 4 months from level 0 to level 78?  100th Day celebrations are almost gone.  Will there be an update shortly?

Update 2024.09.09: I crafted new SSR-ranked weapons for Hunters.

• Night-Thoughts Exclusive for Emma Laurent
• Unstoppable Frenzy Exclusive for Kang Taeshik
• Intuition Exclusive for Park Heejin

They still have a long way to go before they're ready for battle since the levels are fairly low.  Night-Thoughts might be to level 60 in a day or so, but right now, equipping it drops Emma Laurent by about 8700 points.  It's going to need to be at level 80 before it's actually usable.  Unstoppable Frenzy was created a week or so ago and it's at level 27, which was better than the R-ranked weapon he had.  Intuition is still at level 1.

Solo leveling: ARISE first thoughts

 I've been playing this game from Netmarble since Wednesday evening (it's Friday afternoon) and it's like a combination of Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail, which I've been playing regularly.

It takes a fair bit of storage but it works on my Google Pixel 6a fairly well, and it's better on my ASUS ZenBook Pro with Ryzen 7, 16 GB of RAM, and GeForce RTX 3050 Ti (laptop edition), even on very high settings.

I've seen a few reviews from people thinking that whatever phone they have is going to play it well.  I wouldn't expect that, especially since it's new and they need some time to fix the problems and make it work correctly before addressing performance.  The game guides you a bit frequently to items you can buy, but they didn't make the game without money any more than Genshin Impact was made without money.

I've been playing games long enough to say that I prefer to pay for games upfront and not be bothered later, but that's a thing of the past.  Even when you buy games, they bother you to buy more things.  Right now, I'm learning what I need, and not blindly looking at my wallet to solve the problems.  One game I play, Black Clover M, seems to work so that you never get what you want and I don't want to spend money on anything that "randomly" gives you items you might need.  So far, those types of choices always end up giving me more of what I've got, not what I need.

 The Special Summons bit where you summon and summon and summon and it chooses some good characters and weapons for you and makes you wait seemed to be a bad joke.  It made me wait two days and didn't instruct me to buy something but now, it just says Expired.  Maybe, someone in South Korea or elsewhere in Asia managed to get something good. but it was poorly implemented.  It's a new game on the market.  I don't expect everything to go my way.

Game Play

On the keyboard, E and Q are similar in function to Genshin Impact or Honkai: Star Rail.  F and R have higher functions.  Left-Click on the mouse is the basic attack.  Left-Shift has different functions.  For your Main Character, Left-Shift initiates more powerful attacks.  For your fellow hunters clearing a dungeon, Left-Shift cycles through the team members.  Right now, I have Lee Joohee, Song Chiyul, and Yoo Jinho.  The main character is Sung Jinwoo.  You can add your nickname, but it won't replace the main characters name.  All of my characters are at level 20 now and so are their weapons.  My reputation (account level) is at level 4.  It's a few hours later and my characters are above level 20 and my reputation is at level 5.  It's difficult to believe that it's moving more quickly.

The worst flaw I've found is that you use the block/menu to get to a function like enhancing a hunter and you want to enhance the main character, it throws you all the way out, and makes you start again, with a delay.  It's an annoyance, not a reason to quit playing.  They'll probably notice it at some point or already plan to change it.

There is a semi-automatic mode, so that the character will run in the direction of the enemies but you still have control over the battle.  It can perform the battle but I'm not sure it's ready for that yet.  I've ended the Gates battles with SSS level outcome a few times, but too many have been level S.  Still it's not been two days, and I have been to work and back a couple of times.  I play games, but they don't play me, right?

There are all sorts of nooks and crannies where they give you points and free stuff, but you have to look.

Instead of assignments, they have Gate Mining.  Once you clear a Gate, you should return to mine the Mana.  Obviously, you always need supplies.

Since I've never seen the anime or the written stories, I don't know a thing about the ranks and such.  However, I know that R is low, SR is better, SSR is even better. Whether it uses LR or UR as higher levels is something I have yet to see.

I'm using an SR-level weapon for the main character and R-level weapons for the other hunters.  Just like with Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail, you can take multiple weapons of the same type and put them together for a stronger weapon.  There are other item to use for skills and weapon enhancement but I've already forgotten if the tutorial mentioned how to use them.

I'm guessing that, in a year, my main character will be complete and my other hunters will probably be just as amazing, just as I've done with Honkai: Star Rail.  I just need to pay attention to learn what I need to do.

I tried the Encore Missions and got artifacts that increase the characters attributes.  Being that I've accomplished one of the goals shown on the main page, I ended up completing a few of those "you have cleared this 100 times." situations.  I've now got a second SR-level weapon for the main character, for Slot 2.

I hope you have fun.  (I also hope that they do as well as HoYoVerse and make enough money to make this game even better.  They don't have to update it every month but right now, bug fixes would be ideal.)

 

Update 2024.05.11: It's been off-and-on for about 4 evenings since I started.  I'm still not 100% sure what I'm doing.  I'm at Reputation level 5 and Level 29 for my main character.  I've got enough artifacts and enhanced them enough to make battle better.  I'm at difficulty 6, so I'm still going slow.  I haven't spent any money, but I'm wondering if it gets you better equipment and better characters.  SSR equipment and characters would be helpful but things are still going fairly well.  I had one battle end at 7.01, so that was close.  When you're playing with the characters they want you to use, you need to end with the first one to get the full award.

Occasionally, I'll be fighting the boss and use the Ultimate at the wrong time and not have the raid leader on at the end.  Today, I've had fewer SSS finishes and even an A finish, as I've turned up the difficulty.

 

Be sure to enhance your equipment.  It helps a lot.  Check your characters regularly.  They stop pushing you to do it fairly soon.  If you're not aware, you may miss opportunities.

Update 2024.05.12: I'm at level 31, Reputation level 6.  I'm stuck on chapter 8, Ready as You'll Ever Be.  I'm pretty much finished, and then, there is a second boss.  I was thinking "how did he go back to full health?"  Apparently, using light-oriented weapons helps.  We'll see if I can manage it.  I changed both weapons to light-oriented weapons and this helped a bit.  They're not as powerful as they need to be.  I finished the first boss more quickly, but there still wasn't enough time for the power held by the weapons.  This may take some time.

I used up all of my custom draws.  Now that the story isn't going forward, I don't have any way to get more, except to buy a package.  Hopefully, I can figure out something.  Maybe, one of the light oriented weapons and the SSR-level weapon at level 40.

 

With the Lycan Slayer weapon at level 26 and the Shadow Scythe at level 40, things were better.  It's especially interesting that the Lycan Slayer is a R-level weapon.  None of the light-oriented weapons had a lot of power but since I had so many of them and used them together (Advance is your friend!), it became powerful enough.

 Okay, be careful.  I had some extra Lycan Slayer weapons and I went to combine them to see if I could have a second weapon to complete the next mission.  I got a message I didn't understand, and the extras replaced my level 40 weapon.

Since I was failing so often, I didn't expect a SSS result.

Update 2024.05.12: So, I lost the weapon I was successful in using.  I sent a message to support but don't expect for it to be returned.  It's going to take a while for all those upgrades to be re-worked on another weapon.  Still, I'm at Reputation level 7 and character level 32.  It would be interesting to level up every day I don't go to work.

After sleeping overnight, I battled through a few gates and my Reputation level is up to 8.  Wish I had more resources.  After finishing the "You're Ready as You'll Ever Be" battle, the next one, "Protector of the Throne", is a bit more.  Without the Lycan Slayer at level 40, I've switched to the Lustrous Dragon Sword at level 29.  It seems somewhat more powerful and I feel that I've come closer, but with both Light-oriented weapons, I'm betting that it would be so much better.  I'm not giving up, but I might have to wait a while.

Update 2024.05.15: I'm up to Reputation level 9, character level 34.  Got the Lustrous Dragon Sword to level 40.  Increased my difficulty level to 8.  Still going.  Got more characters, including an SSR hunter, Woo Jinchul, but only an SR weapon for him.  Still working on "Protector of the Throne".

Update 2024.05.17: Woke up, did a few gates, and I'm now at Reputation level 10, character level 35.  Tried a Red gate with Woo Jinchul but took too long.  Have a new SSR light-oriented weapon but it's stuck at level 20.

Update 2024.05.19: Up to character level 36.  Making progress, but progress is slowing.  Getting weapons above level 40 will take a while.  Still can't get through chapter 8.  Stuck at "Protector of the Throne".  I could use another light-oriented weapon.  I got a response from support that they are passing my request to the correct team.  I suspect that means that no one is going to do anything about my missing weapon and that I just need to build another of its kind and be more careful.

Update 2024.05.20: Up to Reputation level 11, character level 37.  Working on making certain weapons more powerful.  Attempting to get through chapter 8 still.  I need a little bit of this, more of that, and a helluva lot of those.  I got a 12 days of logins achievement which seems strange.  Why not wait until 14 days?  The game still seems to have a lot of pauses.  Special Summons are back.  It doesn't seem to let me choose in each of the 15 drawings.  I believe that I understand how the guaranteed drawing works: US$21.99 once or US$9.99 subscription each month.  It doesn't explain whether you can cancel the subscription or not.  It's interesting but why would you pay US$21.99 for some characters or items you don't want?  You should be able to choose each time.

Update 2024.05.22: I'm up to character level 38.  When has that happened so quickly?  Within two weeks on Honkai: Star Rail, I was probably at level 12 for my main character.  On Genshin Impact, it took me months to get the main character past level 4.  Getting the weapons up to where they're good is another matter but even then, that's faster than the other two.  Well, Reputation level 12 is here.  Working on Light-oriented weapons and with two, not quite complete, The boss in Chapter 8 is still successful and my main character is not.  Two R-level weapons aren't extremely powerful, but one R-level weapon and one SR-level weapon should be enough.  My new Lycan Slayer is at level 35 with 1-Dimensional Advance while the Lustrous Dragon Sword is has no Advance but is at level 40.

Update 2024.05.25: I'm up to character level 40 and Reputation level 13.  I'm able to upgrade characters now and made changes to my top three hunters.  The SSR-level Thetis' Grimoire for the main character is excellent.  It feels as though battles are shorter and easier.  Whether this will work for the end of chapter 8, I'll try any combination that makes sense.  Anna Ruiz is a useful hunter but her weapon could use some help.  It has no Advance.

Update 2024.05.27: I'm up to character level 41 this morning.  The Reputation level is halfway between 13 and 14, with that +2 after each gate keeping me humble.  The custom draw tickets have added to my weapons.  I'm doing everything I can to get those weapons up to level 60.  It's odd to have an SSR-level light-oriented weapon for hunters and not for the main character, which has SR-level and R-level light-oriented weapons.  Either way, gotta keep trying.

I'm up to Reputation level 14.  Weapons are going closer to level 60.  There is still much to do.  Playing Battlefield of Trials and I'm at Floor 8, having completed or cleared the others.  I tried to add a quick video of it but it seems too big.  Perhaps, I can link to it later.

Update 2024.05.29: It's been a couple of hours since the update became ready.  It's been three weeks and they've added content, changed a few things, and fixed bugs and improved performance.

I've completed chapter 8 and gone up to character level 42.  I can't say that it was pretty but with Thetis' Grimoire at level 60 and the Lustrous Dragon Sword at level 40, it was enough.  Improving the Hunters and their weapons probably helped, as well.

Getting through the Gates, I've noticed that the Hunters are more able.  They've finished a couple of Rank A Gates without a problem.  I'm still working on learning how to use Anna Ruiz and her bow in close quarters.

With the custom draw tickets, I got Silver Mane Baek Yoonho and Moonshadow, among others.  I feel lucky to have any SSR-level equipment or hunters.

I heard from support and they said that they cannot restore the Lycan Slayer as it was, as I caused the problem, and to lock my weapons in the future.  I didn't know that you could destroy a weapon so easily.  With everything else being repetitive, you'd think that the game would make sure I understood.

Update 2024.05.30: I'm up to character level 43 and Reputation level 15.  Things are easier but on occasion, I don't have enough power to defeat the enemies in Chapter 9, not yet, anyway.

Update 2024.05.31: I just completed two episodes of Chapter 9.  I got the new job title of Necromancer.  Then, after the second and final episode, I got the new job title of Monarch of Shadows.  Each came with an extra 30 points to spread around the abilities.  There was also a new outfit, and Instance Dungeons were opened, as well as new slots for artifacts you get from Instance Dungeons.

Update 2024.06.02: I'm at character level 45 and Reputation level 16.  The difficulty level is up to 9, but I'm probably going to change that soon.  I'm partway through Chapter 11 but I'm seeing a warning that my group isn't powerful enough.

I've been experiencing a problem where certain keys on the keyboard don't function after playing the game on Windows.  There are more than I'm going to mention but specifically, the "d", Enter, and Backspace keys don't work after playing.  At some point they're better, but it's not like I use Enter or Backspace in the game at all, so it doesn't make sense.  In a few days, it will be a month that the game has been available.  It feels as though some new functionality is available every few days.

Update 2024.06.07: I'm using a keyboard I got from Temu for the Steam Deck and it's awkward since my Windows computer is a laptop computer.  Anyway, the other day, I got a 40 days of log-ins which seemed a little off since I haven't even been playing for 30 days.  I'm at Reputation level 17 and my character level is almost to 47 but has some time to go.

I was watching a video of someone explaining how to get to a certain level of performance on Solo Leveling: Arise and I noticed that I'm not far from his levels.  That's just crazy because he's probably spend a couple hundred dollars. I have spent US$40.88, which is much more than I usually spend unless I'm buying a game. I'm wondering what happens when I have my characters maxxed out.  Will I find it fun?  On Honkai: Star Rail, I'm in maintenance mode, where I just keep things going until I see something interesting.  Who knows?

Update 2025.06.13: Looking back at this is interesting.  I'm at Character level 106 and Reputation level 66. I'm at maximum on Mining level which is now 40 and my Difficult level for gates is 41.  I have 5 Sung Jinwoo weapons at level 110 and I've got one Hunter weapon almost there.  I'm down to spending $3.99 per month.