Let’s hear about some games you maybe were told were not worth your time, or had bad reviews but you managed to love regardless.
I’ll go first. I’m not embarrased to admit that I played the shit out of Elder Scrolls Blades (the easily forgettable Skyrim-esque mobile game). I had to wait for it to release on Switch which had the benifit of the shitty timers being gone by then.
Once I started to think of it as a kind of advanced ‘Swords and Sandles’ type game I was hooked.
Genshin Impact.
Listen. I understand that the entire thing was hyped up upon release. It was, after all, a gamechanger for mobile gacha games. We went from turn-based games to things like Honkai Star Rail and Tower of Fantasy and of course, Genshin Impact. Honkai Impact 3rd existed, but it wasn’t quite the same as these ones.
However. Despite the hype, there was a problem that made me reluctant to play it.
I really suck at gacha games. Every gacha game before then I would drop within what, 6 days? I love the characters, love the story, hate the game.
So imagine my surprise when I logged into my settings the other day and found out that oh, It’s now been over 500 days logged, lmao. I’ve taken breaks from it once in a while, but I haven’t quit it yet. What have I become?
Honestly I super agree, I got into Genshin so I could have something to play during the texas freeze and I’m glad it sucked me in during that time because it’s SUPER fun – the story isn’t remarkable all the time, but it’s cool getting a serialized narrative through the form of a game like that. I’m really glad I got into it, even if hoyoverse doesn’t seem interested in adding more endgame content at all
I feel you… especially that last part, heh. I originally started playing it on its release to keep my friend company - he’s really into the anime aesthetic, I am not. I have never even played a gacha game in my life.
Something about Genshin is just so strangely charming, though. I cannot stress enough how much I love the music and the latest region especially has been such a wonderful audio-visual experience, which is probably what makes me stick around. There are few characters I genuinely enjoy from a writing/design perspective that not having to chase the gacha is a bonus, but it certainly makes the ones I pick all the more special to me. :)
Something I also appreciate is that Mihoyo/Hoyoverse is constantly making updates on a 6 week basis. 6 weeks! One could argue that quality of life and new features suffer for it, but I think it’s impressive that they manage to keep a game stable and mostly problem-free on such a tight schedule. And the orchestras they make happen are wonderful. For all its shortcomings, I am… positively surprised.