To be fair, that’s not an issue isolated to gacha games. Plenty of modern titles take old style unlocks (skins, bonus characters etc) and turns them into small, often paid, DLC. It sucks but it’s a wider problem within the industry.

Oh, absolutely. I assume people who play exclusively gacha games do so due to the combination of F2P, regular content updates and excitement from pulling for characters/gambling but that’s just a personal guess. I don’t have any hard data to confirm it.

As for folks playing them regardless of genre, that’s not really exclusive to gacha games - there’s plenty of people who play whatever catches their attention, myself included. Strategy, racing, shooters, adventure games… if it clicks with me I’ll play anything (gacha or not). There’s too much fun stuff out there to limit yourself to a single genre, in my opinion.

My main game is the already mentioned Girls’ Frontline (the first one), which is thankfully old enough to come out before the modern monetisation practises and psychological tricks became the norm. There’s no limited pull currency, no need for character dupes (can be replaced by a resource that is so easy to get I can’t even spend it all), no character specific events to push the new and shiny unit etc.
It does have skin gacha for most (but not all) character skins but even then you can use farmable resource for that + getting duplicate costumes turns them into “Black Cards” which can be exchanged for specific outfit. It’s still a bad system and a black mark on an otherwise extremely free-2-play friendly game.

I feel like the most important part of playing gacha games is the ability to just walk away if a title ends up being monetised in a way that affects your enjoyment or well being (for those with lack of self-control). There’s plenty of fun to be had for free, no need to give into FOMO and suffering through predatory balancing decisions when there’s so many options on the market.

So do I, I’m just saying that many wonder “why people play gacha games” without realising (or caring) that there’s actual “game” part outside of the monetisation itself.

I can butt in on this a little bit. The problem with statements like this is that they treat “gacha” (the monetisation and unit recruitment system) as a genre when gacha games are too varied to be locked under this single umbrella (at least for a conversation like this). To name a few, you have games like:

• Arknights (tower defence)
• Azur Lane (bullet-hell kinda sorta)
• Bang Dream (rhythm game)
• Genshin Impact (action-adventure)
• Girls’ Frontline (tactical autobattler)
• Persona 5X (JRPG, just gacha Persona)

All of them play differently, offer different challenges and the impact of their gacha systems can be all over the place. Sometimes there are limited character pulls which have serious effect on gameplay (most of the modern titles), other times characters are super easy to obtain and improve as most of the monetisation comes from character costumes etc (Girls’ Frontline, Azur Lane for example).
Besides that, many of them have engaging stories, which combined with offering lots of content and being able to play them for free makes the whole thing even more appealing.

Not that the aspect of “oh cool, I unlocked new character” doesn’t play any role or that there’s nothing predatory about most of the games using this mechanic, it’s just that “gacha” mechanics aren’t always the sole or main factor keeping people playing.

TL;DR: They are just free games that can, but aren’t always, predatory with a specific gameplay mechanic. Often offer enough value for free players to have fun with them.

Last week I mentioned wanting to play Project Wingman campaigns in VR so I did just that. I started a new campaign on hard, as usual, and with the “Budget Cuts” modifier (less ammo, more damage to everyone and reduced handling) for additional challenge. Difference in ammo counts was a bit shocking at first (I didn’t expect it to go THIS low) but it’s still doable and fun. Each mission requires more precision and patience, other than that, it’s not that different.
I also tried playing one of the missions on the “Mercenary” difficulty (without the modifier) to give it another shot but… yeah, it’s just not for me.

Since I’m in a flying mood I decided to try a little experiment as well. I set up my flight-stick as a controller for PCSX2 and started playing Ace Combat 04 with it. It was alright.
It obviously isn’t as fun as playing a game created with HOTAS support in mind - controls feel a bit stiff and the cockpit view is rather limited but I don’t hate it. That said, I’m not the biggest Ace Combat fan (never grabbed me as much as PW) so I’m sure someone more dedicated could have more fun with this setup.
I only did 2, maybe 3 missions so far so I’ll play a bit more before deciding whether I want to continue or not. At the very least, playing it like this is an interesting experience.

The seasonal event is done so I’m back to playing the Brooklyn expansion for Division 2. I don’t have much to write about it since I only jumped back in last night and spent the session exploring the map. It’s small but pretty cool.
I should be able to finish it this week and then I’ll move on to something else for a bit - I’ve had my fun with TD for now, I think.

Besides that, I’ve been doing some VR flying in Project Wingman, this time using UEVR instead of native implementation. I only did two missions so far (Cold War from the base campaign and Express Lane from the DLC) but boy is flying in VR so much easier. I wish I had even slightly newer hardware to make better use of it but even as is, I can get it to a playable state so fun is still had. Maybe I’ll just do another full playthrough, only in VR this time…

That’s pretty much how I played too so I guess there’s no hidden technique to make it work easily. Guess I’ll have to play around with it some more. Thanks!

How do you feel about the controls on the Deck? I tried playing the classic version last year and had to put it down after a few minutes due to hand strain. One of the very few games it ever happened to me.

I managed to find a workaround for my Easy Anti-Cheat issue so I’m back to The Division 2. Well, kinda.
I once again ended up installing the first game and spent some time alternating between the two to compare them - it’s something I do pretty much every time I’m in the mood for TD.

As much as I like TD2, I refreshed my realisation that in many aspects I still prefer the first game. I actually made a simple list last night of what I like about each game and it turned out way more one sided than I thought it would.

TD1:

• Atmosphere
• Game world
• Enemy factions
• Writing
• Slightly slower pace (movement, combat. looting)
• Cosmetics (UI and items themselves)
• Dark Zone
• Exotic weapons (in regards to looks, TD2 ones are hideous)

TD2:

• Improved cover system
• Armour and weakpoint systems

There are also some things I keep going back and forth on, mainly: gunplay and skills. Which game I prefer for these elements depends on how I feel and what I’m looking for at the time. This week, the first game comes out on top as well but, again, it’s more of a temporary decision compared to everything listed above.

Anyway, this is just a simple comparison without much thought put into it. I’m sure I could get more into details of specific systems and add a ton of conditions on when one is better than the other but it was a fun time waster after finishing a day with both titles.

If only there was a way to play the first game on the updated engine…

Was it a specific mechanic, the whole theme of the expansion or something more specific like how it was utilised with the difficulty you play on? I’m pretty sure I like all of the expansions for that game but I’m also a rather casual player when it comes to 4X games so I’m curious about your experience.

I should really give survival another shot. I played it maybe 3 times so far and while I did like it, it never managed to stick with me beyond that - I’m not sure why. Guess it’s as good of an excuse to reinstall the first game as anything else.

I actually know it exists thanks to a few cross-posts between it and !girlsfrontline@lemmy.world but I keep forgetting to check it out. Thanks for the reminder!

I never really got too deep into builds and just threw together whatever looked or sounded cool until recently. I’m finally starting to try come up with things that actually work properly within the intended mechanics though even then, I don’t really care about min-maxing and popular builds and simply tinker on my own. That said, I mostly play solo so it’s not like there are people who could get angry at me for not playing “optimally”.

Do you also alternate between the games or did you found one that stuck with you for good?

I don’t have specific numbers since some of these games were played on various platforms or outside of environment which keeps track of play time. Still, these are the things that come to mind in regards to where I spent most of my game time.

I’m putting each title into a spoiler to avoid a huge wall of text. I tend to get a bit rambly when talking about games, sorry.

There are probably a few more titles with similar play times but I don’t want to make it look like I had no life as a kid (I didn’t). I love games man.

They also do Bandcamp Fridays! These are the dates where all of the revenue goes directly to artists, without the usual 15% share for Bandcamp. Here is the list for this year if anyone’s curious.

Heck yeah, Parasite Eve recognition! It’s a fantastic RPG and one of the more unique ones thanks to its setting and gameplay - I wish later games kept the latter at least. If you didn’t play PE2 it might also be worth a shot. It’s a bit different, both in terms of story and gameplay, but it’s still a solid and enjoyable title.