The VA-11 Hall-A x Girls Frontline collaboration is now online! There will be a time for sentimentality and how much the whole thing means to us, but today let’s talk about the game and dispel any doubts or concerns from the perspective of someone that started playing the game quite a while before the collab was even suggested. Am I biased writing this? Of fucking course I am. It’s a game I love crossing over with a game I made. It’d be worrying if I WASN’T biased.

So let’s get this question out of the way immediately: Could you get all the characters by the end of the event if you started just now? Yes, I’d say so.

For starters I should open this by saying that I legitimately love the game. Even before the collab, it was one of two mobile games (the other being Granblue Fantasy) that completely grabbed me by the balls as far back as the prologue with its story, music, and atmosphere. It’s the sort of sci-fi that is just as equally concerned with the personal ramifications of the questions it poses instead of falling into the age-old trap of neglecting characters for the sake of the macrocosmic picture. It’s safe to say that anyone that liked VA-11 Hall-A will find something to like here.

Then there’s the gameplay. GFL is a Strategy RPG with really solid mechanics that more often than not will put your mind to work more than the time you might spend grinding. It’s the kind of game where you might enter a low level mission with fully upgraded teams and still lose because the enemy blindsided you capturing nodes on the map. It’s also the kind of game confident enough on its mechanics to not offer any kind of “pay to revive” or “pay to level up immediately” options.

Of course a lot of the fun of these kinds of games comes down to the girls, and GFL is one of those games that is made so even if one girl isn’t “meta” you can easily still take her to end content or make any investments in her worth it. The biggest upgrade that units have is “dummy linking” where your girl gets to command a copy of herself and get her stats multiplied (dummy linking three times is the equivalent of having three copies of that same unit on one slot), and you can dummy link with either copies of the unit, or cores that you get by dismantling other units or through other means like daily missions. What this means is, of course, that starting out the lower stats of lower rarity units are compensated with their easiness to upgrade.

The best example of how well the game lets you use any unit you want at any level is Micro Uzi. I really like her but she has a tile composition that’s… weird to say the least. In other games this would mean she would see no use beyond being dismantled for cores. However, it is entirely possible to make her work in action, and even if you can’t make her work properly in battle you can still use her for logistics missions (basically missions that are done in the background while you do other stuff to get more resources), thus making justifying putting resources into an “subpar” unit way easier than in other games.

It’s worth mentioning too how the paid part of this F2P game works, since it’s considerably non-intrusive. Units are gotten through resources that you either get naturally over time or in the aforementioned logistics missions so there’s no gacha to get characters (though it is random which unit you’ll get when you start production). The only gacha is to get costumes and furniture, and while I won’t pretend cosmetics aren’t important, these particular cosmetics don’t mean you’ll be doing less damage than someone else. Said gacha also uses “tokens” which you can buy but also get at a steady pace through other means.

The only paid thing that has an effect on gameplay is infrastructure like slots for units and such. For example, you start with 2 out of 8 production slots and 2 out of 4 training slots. And while having more of these is certainly convenient, it’s also not a dire necessity until you start really getting into the game, and even then you can collect the gems for those upgrades.

But enough shilling, let’s get to the core of the important question here: can you start the event right now and get everything? Yes.

GFL like many other Mobile Games has a progress curve where there’s usually a “grind wall” that needs to be overcome before you can do “end game” and higher level stuff. But this event, while it has some end game-level stuff, the story and unlocks only go so far as to that “wall”.

Assuming someone started playing today with a fresh account, did the story and a bit of grinding on the side (in particular the EXP simulations that pop up during the week), and put resources especially on the free units you get progressing through the story or unlocked with achievements. I can see them being able to get everything by the end. After all, the event is month-long.

Not only that, the first unit you get from the event is Dana. Why is this important? It’s Dana you little shit Dana is a Shotgun, shotguns are tank units that you usually would be able to get only after unlocking Heavy Productions (after 60 unique stage clears) and using a LOT of resources on that production. Getting a shotgun not only for free but also as one of the first unlocks is an easy crutch. On that note you can also easily get Anna, who is a fairy (because of course she is), another type of unit you will need Heavy Production and Heavy Investments to get in any other case.

There might be a bit of resistance at the later stages but it’s not anything that difficult to overcome. I know how daunting it can feel, that feeling that you’re missing your chance and might not be able to make it by the end… but it’s not that bad, trust me. The game can get difficult but not in an event… unless it’s the extra stage with a literally unbeatable Dana where have to survive instead of defeating her. But that’s an extra stage not anything required to get characters.

Leveling up units is easy up to around level 60 or so, which leaves your units in a really comfortable position to go through everything, especially if you pay attention to team composition and formation. The progress you can make in a week on top of the extra goodies you get from achievements and first-time clears will also definitely ease up everything. And if you feel lost there’s a myriad of beginner resources out there nowadays thanks to all the time the game’s been out in English so far.

But overall just remember to have fun! Don’t see it as a long-time commitment to a new game, see it as a game you’re giving a try because you liked the thing they’re collaborating with. If it’s not your thing then that’s perfectly fine too, if anything you’ll be able to say you have an account in a Chinese game with characters made by two random Venezuelan dudes. If you ever feel like coming back you can tie your account to an email and make it easier to come back to it on any device.

Games aren’t a contract you can’t get out of after all. Mobile games in particular make it easier to just try something out and see if it’s for you or not. That’s basically the reason my iPad is filled with any anime mobage that crosses my twitter feed. I just delete them if they’re not my thing.

Always remember that games are there to take you out of your stress, not cause it.

…also remember to keep 416 and alcohol as separated as possible.