>>102257926Read the last sentence retard and stop strawmanning if you ever want to participate in a conversation in a worthwhile manner.
>>102258021First line is true. Never argued otherwise. Your lash out at the end is a projection.
>>102258139Finally someone with a brain, thanks anon.
What you say is mostly sound however I cannot agree with the point about microtransactions. Maybe it's different in Nikke or some other games but those I know don't actually have many microtransactions, to the point where some players are bothered by that fact and ask for more because they want to support the game but there's nothing worthwhile to purchase. Dragalia Lost was the worst offender. I ended up buying DAOKO's music because there was nothing worthwhile in game's shop.
In most of genshin clones (and they're the most important players on the market), there's really nothing to spend the money on aside from battle pass + monthly login bonus (both of which combined end up at similar price to normal subscripition fee in more traditional live service games at ~$12/mo) and rolls. Outfits are rare and other packs in the shop don't have good value. None of the IAPs are pushed on the player hard either. It used to be common in lesser titles but not in big ones. The last I remember which was aggressive with monetization was Counterside (which, coincidentally, is a gook game like Nikke, I think there lies the issue, korean MMOs were notorious for being predatory since forever too).
>Stamina systems, dailies, drip-feed on resources; those are not made to promote long-term strategy or whatever. They exist to build frustration in players and push them closer toward the cash shop.In some smaller games, maybe. In big ones, not really. These systems exist to enforce the player will keep logging in daily, participating in all events for bread crumbs of resources, clearing all content generally. This builds routine where playing the game becomes the second nature of the player, one that isn't questioned. Long term large playerbase is the winning strategy for those games. The more time you sink into something, the more open you will be to eventually shell out for. Even if those players never end up spending money, they will at least spread the word to others who might spend money and also they will keep the community alive making sure the game keeps getting talked about.
Gacha have changed a lot over the years. Really, there are so many which are truly "f2p friendly" or only want small amount of money spent for comfortable experience. With massive size they found different ways of making money that don't rely on being super predatory. As long as you're smart, you're safe and can have a great time without falling to the money trap.
I think it also should be mentioned for fairness sake what separates gacha games from Western titles. If gacha games want to sell you the characters, they have strong incentive to make them as attractive as possible. You won't find any DEI slop there. You won't have to deal with random agendas pushed down your throat. You won't have to look at freaks of nature. Everything will be made to satisfy the player. Hot girls, cool dudes, great designs overall. Some of them even manage to have surprisingly good stories but I admit it isn't a norm since it's hard to have very impactful plots for one off quests of charas not everyone will obtain.
Music became really impressive in a lot of gacha games too. Genshin is obviously a standout where it can shock professional musicians all over the world with its high quality and brave ideas but even smaller titles have really talented people composing for them. And because they're live service titles, their libraries keep expanding.
Recently, gacha have even started pushing forward in graphics department, WuWa being a great example of a game with stunning visuals, on top of its dynamic and cinematic combat experience.
