Blabbing about action games and gacha

[jinkisei]

You know, I can understand the desire for more action games akin to Devil May Cry, Ninja Gaiden, Hi-Fi Rush, or a good chunk of games made by Platinum Games over the years. They've become somewhat more common in the indie space, but often you do have to do some digging to find them, and they may not be exactly to taste, especially if you're looking for a specific brand of combat stylings.

What I can't get behind (at least not anymore) is lamenting what could have been when looking at a gacha that has elements of those action games but are
paired back mechanically for the sake of the audience the developers are trying to reach out to. Not because I don't understand the desire for a singular complete package, but because there's a very strong likelihood the thing they're complaining about wouldn't even exist if it weren't catering to gahca systems and whatever other daily treadmill stuff is packed in.

I think the people that I know that feel this way about these games should be plenty aware of video games' developmental processes in the current age. Enough to know that what they are actually looking for is... not really going to turn the kind of profits that publishers/stockholders are looking for relative to the cost of making those games. At least, not as a standalone, single purchase game. It been seen time and time again with how Platinum Games operates in particular.

Now, games with gacha systems in them are (understandably) not looked favorably upon. But their potential profit is significantly higher than almost any other style of game out there, and the developers are encouraged to design the game to have as little friction as possible when it comes to being able to complete content they want all players to see. Casting a wide net is pretty paramount, so simplified universal combat systems are encouraged and individual kit complexity is kept relatively low with some minor exceptions. Only after several months to a year of updates will individual kit complexity start to increase in a similar manner to how TCG/CCG expansions increase card description complexity while also commonly "solving" issues with new combat encounters players might have to encourage FOMO. If you're lucky, they mighr introduce a new universal mechanic too to shake things up.

Really, its closer to a tale as old as free to play MMOs (especially of the KR or CN variety, go figure) than anything else, just with a new coat of paint. It's also probably why I'm not as bothered by a lot of these design choices that bug so many of the aforementioned action game enthusiasts. But since the market specifically needs to cater to mobile devices, which are the lion's share of devices players use in the regions these gacha games come from, the pairing down of mechanics is hit way harder than almost any other aspect of the game. And they simply cannot ignore that market. It's too large. It's not even hard to see why with the roughly estimated revenue rolling out from these games coming from players in places like China, Korea, Japan. Especially China, if they really like the game in question.

Frankly, I don't think there's many reasonable options to deviate from this trend, unless there's a change in the market that actually gets big publishers/developers to see standalone, fleshed out action games as an easy way to turn a profit. And that's pretty unlikely, I think.