Whether you know them from the astonishingly popular Genshin Impact or its ongoing predecessor Honkai Impact 3rd, Mihoyo has made a huge impact on the gaming community. With two heavily action-based games released in English already, it was a bit surprising that the companies next game would be an otome game called Tears of Themis. The game plays exactly like other mobile visual novels and offers you several different men to choose between to date.
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The core story changes a bit depending on which route you unlock first and can be a delight to play through if you're looking for a romantic storyline. With that being said, this is still a Mihoyo game, so things aren't just as simple as pressing download and playing to your heart's content.
Basic Rundown
Tears of Themis puts you in the shoes of a lawyer surrounded by several possible suitors. Along with navigating your way to romance, you will need to worry about managing the story by performing as a successful lawyer. You will need to talk to witnesses and figure out puzzles, much like in the Ace Attorney series, to progress through the story. This all unfolds in a visual novel style, where you will be able to use dialogue choices to learn about the people and world around you.
The game is divided up into several different chapters that you will need to unlock using the game's AP system as you play; this makes it rather hard to burn through this visual novel in the same way you would Ozmafia or Code Realize. If you have played other mobile visual novels, though, you will likely be quite used to the system used to progress the story.
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Does Tears of Themis Cost Money?
Whether Tears of Themis is going to cost you money or not is entirely dependant on how you want to play it. In the game, you are given options to top up your account; this will allow you to quickly restore AP and draw better cards from the gacha system, allowing you to blaze through the story.
- Tip: Keep in mind that if you want to do every route in the game, it can get rather costly or take up a good portion of your time.
AP also refills naturally on its own. However, you will need a bit of patience to make it through all of the routes using a completely free-to-play method. To help you get a better grasp on the cost of Tears of Themis, check the table below:
| Cost | Currency Amount | In-game Use |
| $2.99 | 16 Gems | 1 Tear of Themis Pull |
| $29.99 | 198 Gems | 10 Tears of Themis Pulls |
| $.99 | 6 Gems | 60 S-chips |
The cost of an elusive SRR card can reach up to $300, similar to the cost of a five-star character in Genshin Impact. You will want to balance your free S-Chips between pulls and progressing the story in order not to end up waiting. Like with other mobile games, there are events that will give you free items, and you do get a few ten pulls for free when starting the game. One of the best ways to ensure you don't spend a ton of money is by correctly deploying and upgrading your cards, along with user guides to help you easily breeze through the story conflicts.
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One of the best ways to spend a moderate amount of money and get through the game a bit quicker is by buying the monthly pass. The pass is only $4.99 and will give you a daily affection limit of 300 points, along with daily login bonuses to help you enjoy more of the story at once. Like with most gacha games, there will be rate-up events, and the banners will change from time to time.
Card Mechanics
During the game, you will get into debates, which play out as strategic cards battles with a rock-paper-scissor formula. The chart below is here to help you keep track of the color system so that you can easily beat the many card battles in Tears of Themis:
| Color | Wins Against | Loses Against |
| Green(Intuition) | Blue | Red |
| Blue(Logic) | Red | Green |
| Red(Empathy) | Green | Blue |
There are usually a few different rounds of the battle you're going to need to go through. You will need to win each of these, so picking out which cards to use first is key. Try not to use your SSR cards first, as you will need stronger parts for the later part of the duel. You will also want to remember to pull cards when you have earned a Tears of Themis and upgrade them when you draw duplicates to help you have a better chance at winning duels.
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