[Coldsaturn]

Ok let's see if we can get some order in this chaos.
I spent around 10 days utterly lost in all the menus before things started to click. Hope I'll be able to help you familiarize yourself with the UI.

Let's start with the main page.


We move to the top left.
First, the profile


Then Cafè interactions


Then we move to the activities on the right side of the main page, I'll skip Agenda because it's pretty straightforward

From Events we focus one second on the last tab, because it has something interesting if you scroll down


We go back to the main page and look at the Wish page


We move down to Shop, where we'll look at the general page and then at one in particular


Go back to the main page, it's time for With Him


Now to the bottom of the main page, from right to left:

Main story


(to be continued in the next post because I can't post more than 10 images)

[Coldsaturn]

Memories, where we'll find our cards, and look at them more carefully


Battle

forgot to write that Bounty hunt also gives you what you need for ascending cards!

Date

Here I mention something about a bug that allows you to keep the specific hairstyle you choose in the photobooth also for combat/memories/cutscenes etc. instead of the regular long-dark-hair you're forced to start with. Here's a tutorial.

Last but not least, your phone (bottom left)

[ChicletPrime]

I just opened the first image and near killed myself by hot dog inhalation laughing. jesus christ. "fomo anxiety" "cards or tears" "wallets night terror"

joo so funny, oh my god.  will come back and edit this comment after reading through the rest.

EDIT: bwahahahah! I just saw "put a ring on it". dear haysus, i'm wheezing.

EDIT2: In "With Him", I gotta say my current most-unexpected thing that Zayne has said to me so far is:


EDIT3: Card Shards -- woah, hold up. Okay, so I was getting what I thought was duplicate cards - I'll pull a wish, a card would display and then it would flash and turn into a puzzle piece. When I was in the Memories looking at the cards, it gave me the option to rank up a card using these puzzle pieces, which is what I thought they were for.  I am confused on this now.

EDIT4: Deepspace Trial - ...LI's specific orbit gives affinity... -- so completing these fights ranks up my Crush / Darling / Thing That Comes Next / Lover hierarchy? ooooh.

EDIT5: "bug to keep your hairstyle in other places"  -- nani? explain. -- never mind, kept reading, saw the next post text was "here is link to tutorial." strike this edit.

Yeah, I completely missed the 5* card extra bonus story stuff, I was just poking the Kindled button to see the cut scene over and over again.

[Coldsaturn]

Card Shards:
When you pull a card you have already ranked to the max, it will instead turn to sand. That sand can be used in the Heartsand shop, which is the last tab in the Shop menu iirc.
But when you pull from the galaxy, sometimes you only receive a tiny amount (shards) of a new card you don't have. Once you keep pulling that same new card in the galaxy, at a certain point you'll have received all the tiny pieces and you'll get that card whole.
So "sand" is the leftover when you pull a card you've already rank maxed (in the card page you'll see if there's a red dot telling you to rank it up), whereas shards are puzzle pieces you get one at a time from the galaxy. If you're lucky, at a certain point those puzzle pieces will come together.

Deepspace trial:
They give insane amounts of affinity.
The LI's trials and date games (kitty cards and claw machine) are the two BIG sources of affinity. Then you have upgrading their cards, etc. You can see which action gives the most amount of affinity in the With Him page (where you decorate the desk), by clicking on Memo under the image of the LI in the top left.

Oh you're going to have so much fun (and also suffer) with the 5 star cards now :D

[Coldsaturn]

I forgot a very important thing!!!
When you're watching stories (whether it's a card, main chapter, bond scene etc.), you should be able to see a clock at the bottom left of the page. That will pause the story and show you the full transcript up to that point.
Same thing when you're listening to audios, there should be a book in the bottom...right of the page, me thinks. Again, it will open the transcript.

This is vital both because some of the MC's non voiced subtitles are bugged and will flash by at Xavier's speed, and also because it makes taking screenshots of dialogues way more efficient!

[ChicletPrime]

excellent! i was thinking "there has to be a better way than this" and voila, there is.

personally, i think the very first thing they should teach you when you start the game is How To Hide The UI So You Can Take Badass Screenshots. they don't even mention it! you have to poke all the buttons yourself to figure it out.

[ChicletPrime]

okay, i have figured out/found the "Card Shards" thing you were talking about (there are a LOT of menus in this game).

so if i'm reading this thing correctly, i have a number of cards i do not have yet but have pieces of, noted at 10/40, etc. looks like i can go and buy more pieces using a fairly limited currency in the shop. i would assume i should hold off on doing that because i might just get more pieces as i go which would be a waste of currency. i guess it gets more of a better idea if i'm just one purchase (10 pieces) to complete a card. please tell me if my logic is off there.

but the ones at the bottom that are just 10, 20 etc are for cards i already have? and i should use those pieces right away to rank up the memory? or.. something?

[Coldsaturn]

Yes, so basically, most of the shards you'll get are from the galaxy, but you can occasionally get them from generic wish pulls as well.
10/X means that you're getting pieces of a card you don't have yet. Get all the shards for it to become a fully formed 4 or 5 star memory.
Whole number (not a fraction) means that you already own that card, and those additional shards you're collecting can be used to rank it up. 3 star cards need 20 shards to rank up, 4 star cards need 30, and 5 star cards need 40.

You can't buy shards, if you tap on each of those it will either direct you to the Wish pull page or the galaxy explorer. The only exception is for cards available in the Wishing Well Exchange. This is that shop sub menu where you can buy cards using blue gems (you get 1 blue gem for each card you pull from the wish page). You can buy 5 star cards with 180 blue gems, and 4 star cards with 45. It's advised to only buy 5 star cards, because the others at some point will drop in your lap and you'll be able to rank them.

P.S. The wishing well exchange has permanent cards and rotating cards. For the rotating ones choose wisely rather than spending gems for a card that you need less (the choice might be brought by: I don't have x color card and I need it for battles; the card arriving next month is spicier than the one available now; I vibe with it more; etc.)

The rotation is (getting the info from reddit):

January/April/July/October

Original trio - lunar secondary, New boys - primary

Xavier - Fragment Of Time (yellow)
Zayne - Cozy Afternoon (red)
Rafayel - Before Sunrise (pink)
Sylus - Within Reach (pink)
Caleb - Exclusive Aftertaste (red)

February/May/August/November

Original trio - lunar primary, Sylus - tertiary, Caleb - secondary

Xavier - Fluffy Trap (green)
Zayne - Business Trip (blue)
Rafayel - Your Fragrance (purple)
Sylus - Immobilized (blue)
Caleb - Hidden Waves (purple)

March/June/September/December

Original trio - lunar tertiary, Sylus - secondary, Caleb - tertiary

Xavier - Precious Bonfire (red)
Zayne - Gentle Twilight (pink)
Rafayel - Blossoms (yellow)
Sylus - Nightplumes (green)
Caleb - Endless Summer (green)

Advice on which to get: For combat definitely primary and secondary are great to have. Tertiary is nice to have but less important.

Date wise: Spiciest for each guy is their primary card. Secondary for Zayne and Rafayel are also quite intimate but for Xavier and Sylus secondary cards are wholesome. Tertiary cards are in general wholesome and cute with only Sylus having a spicier memory for tertiary. (This is only comparing permanent 5* memories to each other not a general rule).

[ChicletPrime]

you are a godsend, this is great. i'mma pin this to the front page so i don't lose it.

[Coldsaturn]

Forgot to add:

In the Wish menu, where you pull for cards (like Xspace Echo), you have:

- A guaranteed 5-star within 70 pulls
- A guaranteed 4-star every 10 pulls

If you tap on the banner telling you how many pulls you need to get the 5-star, you'll access an additional guide on rewards based on how many pulls you do: up to 100 pulls you get rewards every 25, after 100 pulls you get rewards every 50. Most notably, every 150 pulls you get a Wish Crate that lets you choose a 5-star card among the 10 available.
Be very smart and use the crates to select pairs so that you get special companions! The usual strategy is to get half of the pair through regular pulls, and then use the crate to complete the pairs (so you're advised to hoard the crates). Other players choose differently because they're uninterested in some myth companions and so are fine with waiting for them to get pulled normally through wish pulls (I got Caleb's regular myth companion this way).

(they're all standard myth = more powerful than regular companions, less powerful than their limited myths available only during specific events)

Xavier: Lightseeking Obsession + Lightseeking Shadowrend
Zayne: Promise Everlasting + Forever Sealed
Rafayel: Deep Sea Promise + Deep Sea Riches
Sylus: Captivating Lesson + Captivating Flavor
Caleb: Farspace Bloomfall + Farspace Deprivation

Of these, it's pretty much common knowledge that Abysswalker (Rafayel) is the strongest of the standard myth lot, and Xavier's is so lame that they compensated by making his limited myth companion Lumiere insanely strong. I remember you having already pulled one card for the Abysswalker myth, that would put you at an advantage of getting the second card to complete the solar pair so you get the companion.