Gacha Games Thread

[Vincentdante]

Oh my goodness, I've been addicted to HBR since I heard about it from you. Despite my resolve not to add a third bloody gacha to eat into my limited time, there was no way I was going to resist the critical hit from a Jun Maeda game, that is a visual novel with turn based rpg elements. I love it, and I think the writing is hilarious with lots of colourful characters, as expected. But what's most impressive is the extent of the excellent voice acting for all the characters, though it does get a bit too shouty at times. It's totally Angel Beats the Gacha. Just steeling myself for the inevitable horrific tragedy all these poor sods will no doubt be put through courtesy of Maeda-san...

Erm sorry lol.

 

[Lordhippos]

Might need to get Sunday E0S1 looking at how strong his LC is.

I think I have like 110 pulls ish, so not enough to do that reliably at the moment. When the patch lands should get some extra and I still get the daily boosts from the pass, but may actually need to dip into the wallet. The largest pack is £80 via PS5 I think (£100 on PC for some reason) but is enough for 81 pulls by itself (double bonus first time).

Expensive but as a one off it might be useful so I can start saving up for early 3.0 again... considering it anyway

 

[Geriatric hedgehog]

Erm sorry lol.

Heheh you are my Gacha enabler . Though HBR has helped scratched that VN itch ever since I finished Tsukihime, never having started on FSN having stupidly bought it on steam and not the portable Switch. May get it on switch for the Christmas hols heh.

Might need to get Sunday E0S1 looking at how strong his LC is.

But....but ....he's a dude! You waifu traitor you! To be fair these guys are always cycling to a new meta every few months so I think I'll now just wait for rerun banners to strengthen all those characters I've taken ages building up (only for the relic and planar sets to also get powercrept ), or for new characters that I really like.

 

[Lordhippos]

But....but ....he's a dude! You waifu traitor you!

I know, I know, Power creep will be a constant problem of sorts I guess!

 

[ayase]

All right! Who plays Action Taimanin? Anybody?



I would pick something weird for my first real gatcha game, wouldn't I? I've always been a bit averse to them (and mobile games in general) but recently a friend of mine got me to play 40k Tacticus (mainly because he wanted the goodies from my friend code, I think) and you know what, I found myself enjoying it. I know the world and the lore and the characters and as long as I don't go mental with the gatcha elements it's a way for me to enjoy 40k without spending a whole load of money I don't have on injection moulded plastic. So a couple of days ago, all my energy on Tacticus used up, I wondered if there were any other mobile games from franchises I'm familiar with and feel at least some degree of connection to. One that could satisfy my appetite for harem collecting with more than just Sisters of Battle, perhaps.

Oh yes, there was. I'll admit part of the draw of downloading Action Taimanin was seeing how they had managed to make a PG mobile game based on probably one of the most degenerate commercially released hentai I've had the dubious pleasure of being exposed to. But I do also like the character designs a lot. And I've found there is actually something kind of adorable about wholesome sfw adventures with characters I've seen engaged in some of the most depraved sexual acts imaginable (I suspect that's probably what the best kind of relationship with a real human would feel like, not that I'd know). The "censorship" required for the game to get on the iOS store is hilarious (and inconsequential, since I can also log into my account on PC) as it seems to amount to little more than covering a certain percentage of exposed flesh with opaque stocking material. Massive boobs bigger than characters' heads that swing about like balloons filled with custard in skin-tight outfits? That's fine, just so long as they're not flesh coloured. There are some sly little nods to Taimanin's origins as well, leave the main screen unattended for a while and Asagi starts making some very interesting uh, "stretching" noises...


Possible dig at the competition?

The missions are short but fun button mashing exercises, it's actually a nice change from Tacticus to be able to clear a mission in like 30 seconds rather than find myself locked into a five minute slog. And the quest ones are punctuated by some little VN style segments where I don't think your dialogue options matter in the slightest, but it would have been cool if they'd tied it into the affinity mechanic since it's usually a choice of which girl to talk to/side with in a conversation. I purchased the initial limited time offer of an oppai loli with a big hammer (not a euphemism, which given that this is Taimanin is probably worth clarifying) for 99p since Tacticus taught me that failing to buy probably the best healer in the game when offered on my first day of play for a couple of quid was a terrible mistake. Then I reached level 10, and the 24 hour offers were much too good to pass up. That's a whopping £7.96 I've spent on this game, nearly a whole pound more than I've spent on Tacticus, I'm locked in now.

It's probably just the game's initial generosity but I seem to be accumulating resources at a rather ludicrous rate, none of which I'm using until I know what's best to use them for. That also means I can afford a 1200 gem girl, but I'm waiting to see if I manage to get the final welcome event reward for the first week. That would allow me to get one I want without spending gems, but not the other, so I need to know before I make a decision. I don't want to blow my... gems on Oboro if I can get her for free, but if I get Astaroth and then fail at the event and find myself Oboro-less I will be sad. Because I sure as hell won't be paying £45 or whatever silly real money price they're charging. My head says "Huhu" but my heart says "Fufu" (other parts of me are happy either way).

 

[Vincentdante]

I've not played this one but I have played some H gacha games before lol.

I've always been a bit averse to them (and mobile games in general)

Just got to remember the golden rule. Treat these games as disposable junk food. It's fine to spend a bit of money here and there but you don't want to get a pizza hut everyday. Especially don't think of them as long term games unless you REALLY like it, then you fall into the sunk cost fallacy trap.

 

[ayase]

@Vincentdante oh yeah, I think I have enough self restraint (and not enough money) to not get in too deep with the microtransactions. I’m glad you posted as well since I didn’t want to double post, but I just got into the Halloween event in its final few days and I love this and had to share it. Homura is upset Felicia isn’t doing Halloween properly, it’s like reading a children’s storybook staring scantily clad ladies and peppered with mild cursing. Also seemingly translated using British English, even better.

 

[Lordhippos]

Is anyone planning to play Girls Frontline 2? It looks a bit of a mess with two global entities splitting countries in strange ways.

People seem to suggest it's anime waifu x-com but I couldn't get into x-com anyway, so not sure that is a selling point for me!

I think I have enough self restraint (and not enough money) to not get in too deep with the microtransactions.

That's how we all start but then we wind up addicted and begging on the streets for more moneys so we can get our gacha fixes!

I've probably spent £100 pcm the last few months across 3 different gacha games, but I'm trying to control spending a bit as well, and hopefully can slow that down a little. It's affordable here but I don't want to spend more than necessary.

Partially this is because I am filling out initial team building stuff to get options for my units in all the games. I tend to buy for pull currency as opposed to resources I can slowly gain with time/dailies.

The best value is basically always the daily income if they have it, all 3 of the games I play have some form of it, it's like £5 per month ish but gets a bunch of pull currency over the course of 30 days. With that though you still need to be somewhat selective on what characters to pull for.

Next best is usually the battle pass, as long as you have time left to complete it anyway.

After that, you're down to packs/pulls etc and that is when the costs can go up a lot. This is what I try to avoid too much of.

 

[ayase]

F R I E N D L Y

The best value is basically always the daily income if they have it, all 3 of the games I play have some form of it, it's like £5 per month ish but gets a bunch of pull currency over the course of 30 days. With that though you still need to be somewhat selective on what characters to pull for.

Next best is usually the battle pass, as long as you have time left to complete it anyway.

What I gather from both my own experience and online sources, the best value for money in Action Taimanin is in the time limited offers when you or your characters reach ranks in multiples of ten, since they provide gems that are used to purchase new characters and outfits for way below the shop rate plus vouchers to redeem for your choice of supporters/weapons that you'd otherwise have to roll the gatcha for. That's probably all I'll be buying, the monthly "golden pass" is a bit rich for my blood at £23 and the rewards don't look worth that much to me. Otherwise it seems quite fair, there are plenty of opportunities to obtain both gems and gatcha tokens without spending money. And the rotation gatchas at least give you some idea when you should be spending your tokens to get something or someone you'll actually find useful. I do like the way this plays, it feels like there's always something to do whether that's missions or side games or upgrading stuff and I've yet to reach a point (which can take only a matter of minutes in Tacticus if you're trying to farm components) where the game goes "Welp, that's you out of resources, pay up or come back tomorrow" which leaves a bit of a bad taste that does not incline me to spend money.

Now if I could just beat Felicia, the little prick, I want to complete this Halloween event before it's over. I need to know if Homura saves the ghosts from her dastardly clutches, it's of vital importance to my wellbeing. I've just been levelling up Asagi and her weapon like crazy for the sole purpose of beating her. Still haven't bought any other characters yet, but within the week I should have the vouchers and gems necessary to assemble my dream (nightmare?) team of Oboro, Astaroth and Ingrid. Sakura and Yukikaze are tempting at the low, low price of 800 gems rather than the usual 1200, which I suppose is to enable any player to make a main character squad on the cheap. I'm not that bothered but Yukikaze does have a very fetching winter coat outfit...

 

[Lordhippos]

What I gather from both my own experience and online sources, the best value for money in Action Taimanin is in the time limited offers when you or your characters reach ranks in multiples of ten, since they provide gems that are used to purchase new characters and outfits for way below the shop rate plus vouchers to redeem for your choice of supporters/weapons that you'd otherwise have to roll the gatcha for. That's probably all I'll be buying, the monthly "golden pass" is a bit rich for my blood at £23 and the rewards don't look worth that much to me.

100% worth checking but yep, each game is different in what represents the best value so for any gacha, always do some research on it for sure before spending!

Sword of Convallaria
$5 subscription that gives 300 luxite (their jades/gem equivalent) immediately and then 80 per day for 30 days. Total of 2700 luxite. Pulls cost 150 so it's 18 pulls.

Honkai Star Rail
£5 subscription that gives 300 paid jades and then 90 normal jades per day for 30 days. So 2700 normal and 300 paid ones (these can be converted to normal jades 1:1 but can't go back the other way). Summons are 160 jades so it's 18.75 pulls if you converted the paid jades over.

Nikke
$5 subscription that gives 330 paid gems (jade/lux equivalent) and then 100 per day for 30 days. 3330 total but their pulls are 300 each, so 11.1 summons equivalent.

So each are 30 days, and they all have some kind of upfront thing, and the price seems to be around £5/$5 pretty consistently as well. Nikke one looks like the worst value but I find them pretty generous on rewards and bonus things you can get so they make up for it elsewhere.

Nikke battle pass isn't really worth it unless you want the skin it comes with, as it's about £20 and the skin is unobtainable elsewhere. HSR and SOC both have cheaper battle passes that are like £8 ish and don't give as much, but some extra resources and a few additional pulls each.

Core game on SOC is fun but I absolutely hate the RNG elements of the gear farming as there are 3 different gacha mechanics for boosting character power up so not sure I'll continue it long term, going to give it a couple of months more see how I feel.

Nikke and HSR are better here, and both offer ways to gear up where you can influence the rolling to some degree. HSR in particular with it's latest patch notes is introducing some better quality of life for relic and planar set farming.

 

[ayase]

Bye, Felicia.

The translation has me scratching my head a bit now. It's utterly charming in a simple, almost childish kind of way so I was presuming it was being done by someone whose first language was definitely not English, then out of nowhere Azusa drops the comment to Homura: "Would you be the saviour of the broken, the beaten and the damned?" (a spooky enough reference to hear today of all days) which surely would not have landed the same in Japanese, unless she spoke that line in English even in the Japanese text.

100% worth checking but yep, each game is different in what represents the best value so for any gacha, always do some research on it for sure before spending!

I've just looked and there is indeed a package that nets a total of 440 gems over 30 days (£2 on the first go, will likely be £5 on subsequent purchases). That doesn't sound like a lot but AT gems seem higher value than their equivalent in other games, going by what you've said and what I know from Tacticus, which requires 300 blackstone per pull whereas AT only requires 50 gems. I'm not using gems to roll the gatcha at all though, only tickets. That seems like a good way to bankrupt yourself, I'm saving my gems to buy characters and outfits with.

I just reached level 50 with Asagi so the level-up bundles are getting more pricey now, but her level 50 bundle still offers 600 gems and a load of other stuff for £12, whereas to buy 620 gems in the store would cost a whopping £40 (but you can also get 300/500 as part of bundles for £10/£20 so I'm not sure why anyone would just buy the gems). Like you say, it's definitely worth seeing what gives the best value for money.

And I can't be sure, but I think I might have unknowingly cheesed the action points used to play missions. There's a level-dependant limit on how many you can have at a time (mine is currently 48) but since the game starts you above that limit, it seems as long as you never dip below it you can continue to accumulate AP using items rather than time. I'm currently sitting on 1650/48 and have enough items to add another 3600 to that... Considering a mission costs 4-12 a go, I think I'll be good for AP for a while.

 

[Vincentdante]

Is anyone planning to play Girls Frontline 2?

Yup that's on my list of games to try. It very much is waifu xcom. I quite like xcom but it's very hard lol.

 

[Lordhippos]

I'm not using gems to roll the gatcha at all though, only tickets. That seems like a good way to bankrupt yourself, I'm saving my gems to buy characters and outfits with.

Usually these are somewhat ubiquitous, in HSR the jades can buy tickets, so you can summon on the gacha banners with tickets, or if you run out, the jades that would buy the tickets get auto-swapped at the normal rate of the store automatically.

These types of games don't usually offer you the chance to straight up buy characters though without the tickets/pulls, so interesting that it sounds like they do to some degree?

I'm not sure why anyone would just buy the gems

I think these games often have whales who spend a lot of money, these whales will consume all of the standard offers and deals, and eventually be forced to buy the gems at full price from the store if they want to carry on using them up. That is my understanding of the standard gem purchase costs. They aren't really for light spenders to consider.

it seems as long as you never dip below it you can continue to accumulate AP using items rather than time. I'm currently sitting on 1650/48 and have enough items to add another 3600 to that... Considering a mission costs 4-12 a go, I think I'll be good for AP for a while.

This is actually a sort of negative of some kind in my view, because you're above the cap your timed regen probably stops, which means you aren't gaining AP for being idle. Other games do this as well and you let you use items or quest rewards to temporarily exceed the caps, but they usually pause the regen mechanic as a result.

I think it may be best to stop adding more AP via items for now if you can avoid, once you get your total below your cap you can use the items to temp boost AP when you need it, think of it like bottled time.

Yup that's on my list of games to try. It very much is waifu xcom. I quite like xcom but it's very hard lol.

Have to let us know how you find it!

 

[ayase]

These types of games don't usually offer you the chance to straight up buy characters though without the tickets/pulls, so interesting that it sounds like they do to some degree?

Yeah, you can buy the playable characters for both gems and cash. Supporters and weapons are acquired via the gem/ticket gatcha though, so to make those characters live up to their their full potential you do need to use the gatcha mechanic. I suppose it's just a case of how bothered you are that your characters have a top tier weapon or support team, I'm quite enjoying the challenge of just working with what I've got. Upgrade materials are earned via missions or the separate gold gatcha but gold seems very plentiful, I could roll that 300 times right now with my 3m gold but my inventory would run out of space and I'd have to upgrade it, lol.

This is actually a sort of negative of some kind in my view, because you're above the cap your timed regen probably stops, which means you aren't gaining AP for being idle. Other games do this as well and you let you use items or quest rewards to temporarily exceed the caps, but they usually pause the regen mechanic as a result.

I think it may be best to stop adding more AP via items for now if you can avoid, once you get your total below your cap you can use the items to temp boost AP when you need it, think of it like bottled time.

It's an interesting one, because while it's true I'm not earning any idle AP it also means I can do a stupid number of missions to fill out event/daily/weekly tasks and earn AP back in the process. I'll see how it goes, if it's constantly ticking down you're probably right. If I can keep that number going up like this though... Maybe it's a pipe dream but I kinda wanna find out.

 

[Lordhippos]

One rule of gacha games seems to be late game stuff really eats your resources, you think you're fine now but down the line you need like a gazillion gold or materials to roll the best things or upgrade them.

Interested to hear if your infinite AP hack works out

I imagine a lot of this is 1st time clear rewards and they want you to keep playing, may dry up eventually. Honeymoon period on new gacha games is very real as well, once you've done all the 1 time things you're stuck with whatever new content they push out.

It took me like 2 months to catch up with the millions of things I had to do in HSR to get up to date with the story and events, that was a big game to play!

 

[Lordhippos]

HSR players, plans for 2.7 banners and beyond?

Pulling for Sunday? Jing Yuan? Fugue? Firefly?

Waiting for 3.0 and Herta/Aglaea?

I have 125 pulls ready and that is all I can scrounge together for now. I want Sunday E0S1 but that isn't super likely with just 125 pulls (and honestly my luck on getting early SSR on this game is non-existent!).

My current thinking is I'll throw the 80-90 pulls on the banner to hope to win the first 50/50 and then I'll make my decision on spending money for more pulls based on that. if I get lucky there then I'll save up some extra pulls in the events and go the light cone nearer the end after we've had all the new jade drops.

Also thinking about trying out GFL2 on the weekend, I'm not convinced yet on it but trying it is free to do and I can see for myself. So I will see you in the game @Vincentdante assuming you can actually add friends there!

 

[ayase]

Week one on Action Taimanin, my goals have been achieved.



I will get Ingrid's summer dress at some point, but I'm saving my gems because I think I'll probably end up getting Azusa when she becomes available, she's pretty (and I have a UR weapon ready for her, but mostly she’s pretty and has a gothic dress outfit). It's a real shame Oboro doesn't have a comfy casual outfit, she does have a really nice new year kimono but that's only available in a £15 pack. No way I can justify that one.

The timing also worked out incredibly well because the current rotational gacha is weapons for Astaroth, Ingrid and another character I don't really care about but still, that gives me a 2/3 chance of getting things that are useful to me. That made the decision for me to finally use my UR weapon voucher to get Oboro her best weapon. I think she’s going to take a bit of practice to play well, but it seems worth it since when she is good, she is very, very good. Astaroth is p*ss easy to play though, almost laughably so, you just keep moving while holding the fire button. I can see why she’s recommended for beginners.

I needn't have worried about the "win arena battle" tasks I thought I was most likely to fail at and scupper my chances of getting all the goodies, my level 58 Asagi demolished everyone in her first 10 battles in a matter of seconds, though my win streak seems to be stuck at 9. I hope no-one thinks I’m cheating.

Interested to hear if your infinite AP hack works out

My AP has gone down by about 300 since last I posted (but then I did auto resolve the Halloween Ghosts quests over 100 times in their last couple of hours to get a particular supporter) however I have now unlocked the lounge which allows me to pop a character in there and manufacture AP items for me. Ingrid is currently busying herself with that, the dream remains alive. Given that the AP items are depicted as drinks like tea and lemonade, I like to imagine demon hell knight Ingrid is just sat there brewing tea and squeezing lemons, like the "mine ore" task is actually sending these cute anime girls down t' pit (there's an idea for a show). As for the "dismantle supporter" function, I don't want to think too hard about that.

 

[Lordhippos]

I needn't have worried about the "win arena battle" tasks I thought I was most likely to fail at and scupper my chances of getting all the goodies, my level 58 Asagi demolished everyone in her first 10 battles in a matter of seconds, though my win streak seems to be stuck at 9. I hope no-one thinks I’m cheating.

To prevent despair they will probably be pitting you against similar new people to begin with, if they let you into a global arena you'd be killed instantly by the super OP whales

I got Sunday but I missed my first 50/50 and got Gepard first, and as I expected both pulls took me to basically full pity (I don't know why but in this game I can't get a single early pull!).

Out of tickets now, may yet need to buy the pack I was hoping to hold off on doing, not sure I can scrounge up enough pulls to get Sunday LC before the end of the events and things otherwise.

Edit - as said needed the pack. Got Sunday LC so E0S1 like I wanted, though what was the cost?



Out of pulls for now, saving for 3.0 now definitely skipping Fugue as simply don't have the pulls nor the time to work on gearing her up (or the characters to work with her necessarily). Sunday may be the last character I pull LC for in a while just due to economics of doing so vs simply getting the characters, but having him SP positive is potentially a big win for summon team comps.

I re-upped the battle pass and the daily gems as well, nice thing is the PSN credit was also discounted so I saved quite a bit vs buying on the PC

This is oof. Everything goes to pity for me basically! Never heard of an early pull even my re-roll accounts didn't get any!

 

[Vincentdante]

Congrats on Sunday and also oof at that pity luck. My sympathy.

 

[Lordhippos]

Yeah it does suck as if you miss a 50/50 it's another 80 tickets just to get back there lol. I'd not mind if I pulled the odd early one and it was a miss as it guarantees you get them on the next.

I may put some pulls into getting pity on the banner in the off chance I get another early copy of Sunday as his E1 looks good, so I wouldn't be mad if I get it sooner than pity.

You playing on the GLF2 darkwinter side or sticking with our proper haoplay one? I am just going with our region for now, absolutely not planning to spend anything in it though as spending on others is enough for now.