(FGO) Babylonia
I admit I don't think very highly of mobile games in general. They aren't necessarily doomed to being bad, but they are working with a lot of technical limits - storage space, control inputs, small displays, etc. Combine that with the current ubiquitousness of the platform(s) and you have a market that sort of encourages low-effort cash grabs. Maybe that's why the loot box/"gacha" mechanics seem to have sprung up and flourished in that arena, making it a dangerous minefield of cheap/free games that can still suck a wallet dry given the least bit of opportunity.
Yet, I'm still playing Fate: Grand Order more than a year after it started. And this without having spent any money on it, either. The temptation has been there occasionally, but I've had just enough luck with random pulls to get enough desired characters that I haven't purchased anything. Probably the most tempting of the deals offered is the "guaranteed 5-star" summons that come up perhaps a couple times a year - spend summoning currency for a 10-pull and you're guaranteed one will be a top-rarity character, but you can only use currency you've actually paid for. Free saint quartz (in this case) doesn't apply. And they have been divided by class, so if you have one summonable character/servant in mind to target, you have about a 1-in-six chance of getting them (as opposed to a fraction of a fraction of a percent normally).
The allure is there. Honestly, I wouldn't feel terribly bad spending money on the game, given how long I've played it, but being a free player is still good too.
So, why bring this up now? Well, because the Bablyonia chapter is fresh in my mind. Between the summoning/leveling of servants and battle scenes, the game plays out much like a visual novel. There's virtually no real choice (extremely rarely, a choice may have an effect on the following battle), so it's telling a story - one of time travel, alternate history, and struggling against the end of humanity.
Also, there are a ton of holiday/seasonal events that are often more comical. The main character has helped multiple servants play Santa, attended Halloween festivities thrown by a self-styled idol servant, been stranded on a deserted island with several servants, and all sorts of other silliness.
But then the story chapters come out and things get serious again. Babylonia was perhaps the best, most striking example, of this. There's still some comedy woven in with the conflict. The characters given punch to the scenes. I never expected to like several of the characters as much as I did. Ereshkigal stole the show in my book (and isn't summonable for another year, alas), but Gilgamesh was more enjoyable here than his Fate:SN incarnation. Ishtar and Panther Warrior were amusing. Quetzalcoatl manages to bounce between terrifying (that smile) and silly/cute/badass. Of course, after a series of anime-like comebacks, another disruption in history is quelled and the narrative moves toward the close of the game's premise... or at least its initial arc. The Japanese version is some two years ahead, so I know there's more and have picked up bites of that here and there, but I'm still eager to see how the showdown with the so-called King of Mages will play out.
I'm going to have to wait some time, and that's sad, but this latest chapter reminds me how much a sucker I am for story. While it may be stretched out and in a minefield of tempting gacha banners, I actually find it pretty captivating when it's moving ahead - more so than some more "normal" games I've played recently.
Yet, I'm still playing Fate: Grand Order more than a year after it started. And this without having spent any money on it, either. The temptation has been there occasionally, but I've had just enough luck with random pulls to get enough desired characters that I haven't purchased anything. Probably the most tempting of the deals offered is the "guaranteed 5-star" summons that come up perhaps a couple times a year - spend summoning currency for a 10-pull and you're guaranteed one will be a top-rarity character, but you can only use currency you've actually paid for. Free saint quartz (in this case) doesn't apply. And they have been divided by class, so if you have one summonable character/servant in mind to target, you have about a 1-in-six chance of getting them (as opposed to a fraction of a fraction of a percent normally).
The allure is there. Honestly, I wouldn't feel terribly bad spending money on the game, given how long I've played it, but being a free player is still good too.
So, why bring this up now? Well, because the Bablyonia chapter is fresh in my mind. Between the summoning/leveling of servants and battle scenes, the game plays out much like a visual novel. There's virtually no real choice (extremely rarely, a choice may have an effect on the following battle), so it's telling a story - one of time travel, alternate history, and struggling against the end of humanity.
Also, there are a ton of holiday/seasonal events that are often more comical. The main character has helped multiple servants play Santa, attended Halloween festivities thrown by a self-styled idol servant, been stranded on a deserted island with several servants, and all sorts of other silliness.
But then the story chapters come out and things get serious again. Babylonia was perhaps the best, most striking example, of this. There's still some comedy woven in with the conflict. The characters given punch to the scenes. I never expected to like several of the characters as much as I did. Ereshkigal stole the show in my book (and isn't summonable for another year, alas), but Gilgamesh was more enjoyable here than his Fate:SN incarnation. Ishtar and Panther Warrior were amusing. Quetzalcoatl manages to bounce between terrifying (that smile) and silly/cute/badass. Of course, after a series of anime-like comebacks, another disruption in history is quelled and the narrative moves toward the close of the game's premise... or at least its initial arc. The Japanese version is some two years ahead, so I know there's more and have picked up bites of that here and there, but I'm still eager to see how the showdown with the so-called King of Mages will play out.
I'm going to have to wait some time, and that's sad, but this latest chapter reminds me how much a sucker I am for story. While it may be stretched out and in a minefield of tempting gacha banners, I actually find it pretty captivating when it's moving ahead - more so than some more "normal" games I've played recently.
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