The Japanese mobile game market is solidly based on gacha games. If you’re unfamiliar with the term, they’re titles with a business model that involves drawing random characters, weapons, and other relevant elements via random “gacha” with attempts that can be either paid with real money or free currency earned in-game.
On one side, they’re certainly problematic to handle for those who aren’t able to give their spending a hard limit (and it’s often very difficult to do, with the games’ mechanics themselves and armies of charming waifus tempting the weak).
On the other hand, they’re often genuinely great games like Granblue Fantasy, or they offer interesting insight into beloved franchises and its characters, like Fate/Grand Order and Muv-Luv Alternative: Strike Frontier. They also tend to have great art, which is always a bonus.
In today’s episode, I’ll talk about some of my favorite gacha games, and how to survive them without completely tearing your bank account to pieces. Of course, this is what works for me, and may not work for everyone.
Unfortunately, I also have some bad news: our charming co-host Emily Hobbs was affected by some unforeseen family issues, and won’t be able to work on the podcast for the time being. For the moment, I will continue on my own (possibly with occasional guests), as it would be a pity to drop everything after seven episodes. We’ll see whether in the future we’ll be able to find another co-host, or Emily might be able to come back to the role that is rightfully hers.
If, after listening to the podcast, you realize that it was much better with Emily, you’re right. It was. Yet, we’ll do what we can to keep it going hoping that she’ll be able to return soon. Incidentally, this doesn’t mean that she’s quitting the site. She’ll go on in her role as Staff Writer as usual, and yesterday she successfully completed her initial training, so feel free to congratulate her in the comments!
Please do keep in mind that this podcast is still in an experimental phase. Constructive criticism and suggestions are absolutely welcome and encouraged, so please leave them in the comments below. You can also let us know which themes you’d like to see covered in upcoming episodes.
Now, without further ado, you can listen to the DualShockers’ Weebcast below, either on YouTube or Soundcloud. You can also listen on iTunes if you so wish. In case you missed it, you can also listen to the previous episode, focusing on Akihabara.