Re: free Free FREE Infinity Nikki !! Looks very good!

On Mon, 28 Apr 2025 15:33:02 -0600, "rms"
<rsquiresMOO@MOOflashMOO.net> wrote:

Don't really know what a gacha game is, but hay!  maybe its time to find
out:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/3164330/Infinity_Nikki/

Well, gachapon are those vending-machines were a little plastic bubble
pops out and inside said bubble is a little toy. They're big in Japan,
and the toys --which tend to come in series-- are somewhat
collectible. You have Gundam gachapon and Pokemon gachapon and
god-knows what gachapon, but some people strive to collect every toy
in the series. But because the toys are randomly distributed, you
can't be sure which one you get every time you put your money into the
machine, so you have to keep in plugging coins and hoping the next
bubble that pops out has that one toy you're missing.

If this sounds a bit like lootboxes, that's because it is; it's a
physical embodiment of the trope (albeit gachapon obviously pre-dates
the digital version). Gacha games on the computer are, essentially,
games where the goal is to acquire various in-game items through some
sort of random mechanic. Sometimes there's is on overarching
story/game around this (often you must find the appropriate items to
progress); other times it's a more openly brazen system where the
collection is the entire goal.

But a core mechanic is that the items are randomly distributed. The
items aren't necessarily available only through real-world money (some
games restrict you entirely to collecting them through in-game
funding, and finding the resources to 'buy' the next item becomes an
important strategy) but a lot of them are. A lot of gacha-games are
free-to-play games, obviously, and sell in-game currencies necessary
to buy the next items for real money.

While the business model that predates on players is horrid, I can't
similarly condemn the mechanics. I've no real interest in that style
of game, but it's appealing to a lot of players. As for "Infinity
Nikki", I've no judgment; I haven't played it --and nothing in its
trailer indicates it's a game I'd ever want to play-- so I can't say
if its good or not. If it is a gacha game, it isn't immediately
obvious from its store page but it could well be. I'm unlikely to ever
find out for sure, though.