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What do you think about gacha and microtransactions in smartphone otome games?

I always prefer upfront pricing. I've seen so many games where a good playing experience is locked behind a paywall and I always wonder why they give the players the option of a lacklustre experience…
It feels a little manipulative in gacha games especially. There's always a little pressure for the player to spend.
 
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I always prefer upfront pricing. I've seen so many games where a good playing experience is locked behind a paywall and I always wonder why they give the players the option of a lacklustre experience…
It feels a little manipulative in gacha games especially. There's always a little pressure for the player to spend.
Hard agree. It also feels very predatory as well, particularly for people who are new to the genre. My first otome game was in the early 2010s where you could just buy a game and that was it. No extra fees, no special expensive DLCs, nothing like that. You just slipped a disc in your console and called it a day lol.
 
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Years and years ago, I might've been the person who liked gacha games the most. But the older I got, it felt like I appreciate paid and complete experiences that will give me everything than a stupid paywall just saying I can't continue or learn more about who I like BECAUSE their story is walled behind their UR card or something...
 
No thank you.

While I think games like LBC are amazing (I love the story), I generally avoid live service games (especially with gacha and other microtransactions) if I can help it.

Like if it's gonna EOS, how will you revisit it?

Gacha is also bad for you because of the gambling.
I would know... Because I play gacha games.
 
No thank you.

While I think games like LBC are amazing (I love the story), I generally avoid live service games (especially with gacha and other microtransactions) if I can help it.

Like if it's gonna EOS, how will you revisit it?

Gacha is also bad for you because of the gambling.
I would know... Because I play gacha games.
I too would know... because I also play gacha games... :lapi_sweat:
 
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it feels kinda predatory and with gacha you can play f2p for the first year or first 2 years and then it will soon become impossible to play without paying. I'd rather buy a full game than constantly have to pay little by little for what i want.
 
Call me an old man but I like my otomes the old-fashioned way...

No ads, one time purchase, and no extra bells and whistles unless you count in a fandisk! XD
Hard agree LOL! I miss the days where you could get a game and that's it! Now you have to worry about extra fees, content locked behind paywalls and of course the dread EOS. I may sound old fashioned myself but unless it's not a full purchase, I'm not interested!
 
I get over purchasing individual routes, but any other element (microtransactions, gacha, ads) of that sort and I am out. I have enough full-fledged games to entertain me for the rest of my life ><
 
i don't like the predatory nature of gacha games so I haven't played any VN gachas at all bc even the sole dea of getting into this gambling trap is highly uncomfortable to me. It always starts small but can get very addicting and expensive over time.
 
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I prefer if I can buy the routes and stuff outright but I don't want to have to gacha for content.
 
It's way too much of a tease, and usually the quality of writing and the routes aren't enough to waste my time over. It's pretty infuriating, and I don't really want to waste my time trying to deal with it ^^'

Would much rather pay for a full game instead of an otome game riddled with micro transactions.
 
I find it completely unacceptable, because these kinds of long-running games always tend to fall apart in the later stages.
 
I HATE gacha and microtransactions in otome! What do you mean I have to roll for the rare cards or pay for gems just to unlock certain scenarios?? Totally ruins the immersion. Just let me pay upfront for the whole game and enjoy it in peace
 
I don't like repeated spending on my games. That being said, I have played my share of gacha otome (lads/tot) and lots of mobile otome that basically depends on Micro transactions. I played them while staying f2p. It gets exhausting and fomo gets real quickly.
 
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I really don't like most mobile otome games for the same reasons people here mentioned. I played a few very generous gacha games and I'm a f2p player, but none of the mobile otome games are as generous.

At the very least, mobile otome games have big communities, but it really confuses me every time they keep on defending the terrible predatory practices lol
 
if its only cosmetic stuff i dont really about them, i just cant handel them when the game is unbeatable w/o a specific gache item or if it locks story behind it
 
I agree with most of the replies here, micro transactions sucks especially in this economy. It's a shame that some mobile games have insanely good main stories. I have never seen a console otome goes deep into a caliber of Tears of Themis in terms of lore and technical reasoning.

...or maybe that's just a lack of knowledge from my side, idk. I'd love to be proven wrong.
 
gacha is only fun in your first week of the game, rest is just waste of time and money. just my opinion though
:alice_fall:
 
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I would definitely prefer that it doesn't have it but if it does then I would hope it doesn't lock story behind things and that you can still earn it even if there's a grind for it.
 
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It doesn't bother me; I play those kinds of games without spending my money since otome gacha games require investment, and sometimes I lose interest in one game for another.
 
As far as I know, a lot of people who play these games are looking for long-term companionship, so they keep waiting for new content to come out. But I lose interest pretty easily, so I usually end up ignoring the story and just enjoy collecting characters.
 
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I would definitely prefer that it doesn't have it but if it does then I would hope it doesn't lock story behind things and that you can still earn it even if there's a grind for it.
yeaaaah what is it even the point if you can't play the story. just make it fully paid atp
 
I don't really like gacha games because they make me feel like I'm being forced to complete daily tasks—even when I'm busy—or else I'll miss out.
I used to play them a lot without spending any money, but I've started to feel like they're a huge time sink, so I try to avoid them as much as possible.
 
For one thing I want to see otome companies to succeed and last longer but on the other hand, when they stop releasing longer format games and prefer everything to be microtransactual (I'm looking at you UtaPuri), I stop supporting them.