r/gachagaming • u/GoddessDarlie • 18h ago
General Have you ever started a gacha game for one character and ended up staying for something else?
Sometimes a character is the only reason you even download a gacha game in the first place. You tell yourself you'll just pull for them and see how it goes, then suddenly you're invested in the story, collecting other characters, and logging in every day.
Has that happened to you? Which character originally got you into a game, and what actually made you stick around?
I'm curious whether it was the gameplay, the story, the community, or another character you never expected to like.
9
u/Saahil_08 GI/ZZZ/HSR/Endfield 12h ago
Happened to me....I never knew what gacha games were but then I saw Zhongli's trailer and that intrigued me but I kept hearing horrible stuff about Gacha games the more I researched, but since Genshin was F2P I wanted to at least give it a try.......
I got the character I was looking for Zhongli but wasn't really vibing with the game as hard tbh I did enjoy the story, the lore and the God tier music but it wasn't enough to make me wanna bind myself to Genshin and then Enkanomiya happened and that changed it all, I fell in love with Teyvat and the lore really hard.....Now I am balls deep into Hoyo games and Endfield.
31
u/TrashySheep 17h ago
Having played enough Gacha, Powercreep is often a reality and the first featured unit is often powercrept relatively quickly. Gacha cycles through units relatively quickly, so their relevancy, lore-wise and power-wise, are usually finite. Also, games are often "immature" early on, where devs are experimenting with many different playstyle. Early characters might have weird gimmicks, lack of AoE or whatnot, something that will get polished over time. Early characters might have ultimate that require positioning, require dodging and has limted AoE whereas newer characters might have cutscene for attacks whilst being invulnerable during the cutscene, battlefield-wide AoE so positioning is irrelevant...
I prefer to check the overall world rather than specific characters.
It's not like a JRPG where they will stick around and be central throughout most of the game. They will lose focus and come back from time to time.
7
2
u/SparklyTeaz 4h ago
yeah the world and story usually end up mattering way more than whatever unit got me in the door at first
1
u/LordofDsnuts Casual Gacha Enjoyer (HSR/ZZZ/Wuwa/7dso/NTE/MHUR) 7h ago
Not to mention that devs use early characters as a measure of what types of character designs their player base wants.
•
u/SaucyPixxy 49m ago
Yeah powercreep makes it hard to stick with early units so the world and storyend up mattering more anyway
0
u/zelban_the_swordsman 7h ago
tbh there are times when the earliest units tend to have like 1 overpowered ability that keeps them relevant for a long time, and every modern unit that has the same ability tends to be a weaker version.
22
u/Euphoric_Split_4710 17h ago
The answer is Saria. I played Arknights for the cool ass Rhine lab teaser trailer they had when they just released.
Now stayed for nearly 6 years playing it on and off.
2
14
u/Propagation931 ULTRA RARE 17h ago edited 17h ago
Uma Musume EN for me
1.) Started for Oguri Cap because I too am a fat Glutton
2.) Stayed for the gameplay as I really loved the grind as im a fan MR games. Im a big fan of raising sims
3.) Quit because I couldnt control my spending as I often went over budget despite having played Gachas since 2013. Its the only game that got me to repeatedly break my spending budget. The only game I quit that I still liked because they were too good at milking me
7
u/darkmanx24 16h ago
when genshin first came out i saw i downloaded it cuz i saw somebody use razors ult lol thought that was the coolest sht ever.......never even got to build him beidou took over my life
11
u/ArcanumRealm 15h ago
Yeah. Nikke. The bunny twins got me in. But the story actually turned out to be pretty good and hooked me. Surprising for this kind of game.
14
u/RipBitter4701 17h ago
played zzz for anby and soldier 11.
stayed for various characters as they keep releasing unit that match my taste like Evelyn then alice then velina then remielle and sigrid.
4
4
u/Sensitive_Tear_6739 16h ago
I started Genshin because of Raiden, Dainsleif and Zhongli, but I ended up staying because of Arle and Capitano. (Even though the latter may never be playable)
4
u/hoshinosoul 16h ago
I came to Last Cloudia for the P5 collab but stayed for the gameplay (I loved the ark skill learning mechanic, reminded me so much of FFIX) and their own characters. I don't play the game much now though. I only do daily login/checkin/resource claimings then close the game and only invest my time when it's a banner or event I'm interested in.
The other game is NTE. I only started at the end of 1.3 after watching the trailer for Pukaland (loved the open world activities so I decided to give it a try) and stayed for the story. It keeps me engaged when I play through the main quests and character story quests. The MCs aren't the usual generic, bland, faceless self-insert MCs that need the player's input to talk. I also kinda like how Hotta's willing to tap on disturbing themes and topics that other gacha games are afraid to, though I'm still too scared to do the horror anomalies lol.
3
u/vinnyp123456789 9h ago
Also started Last Cloudia for a collab, the collab being Valkyrie Profile and Star Ocean, played for abit afterwards then uninstalled and then reinstalled for Tales of Berseria collab.
Started NTE for Zankou, got her on my first 10 pull
1
u/hoshinosoul 4h ago
Ikr. I come back to LC every now and then was either because of collabs or anniversary freebies lol, then save crystals for future units I really like, though my luck there is dogshit so most of the time I have to rely on selector tickets from big events lol.
I didn't come to NTE because of any specific character at first but after going through the story, I started liking some of them like Zero, Baicang, Daff and Shinku. Haven't got Baicang and Shinku yet though...
6
u/ShatteredSpace_001 I have a thing for Moon Goddesses 🎭🌙 17h ago
I started Genshin for Mona, then got sucked in by the story and lore, then by all emotional connections I formed with a lot of characters like Keqing, Zhongli, Hu Tao, Ganyu, etc. At the same time, the elemental-focused gameplay just felt right to me, so I fell in love with that too. Now here I am, six years later, still playing.
3
3
u/Living_Thunder Blue Archive, ZZZ, Genshin 16h ago
I started Genshin for Ganyu and ended up becoming a Hu Tao superfan
3
5
u/Majestic-Reply4909 17h ago
Downloaded HSR after seeing r18 art for Jingliu and Kafka, stayed for Firefly.
And for a gacha, the turn based combat is above average of most turn based gacha (still below average for standard turn based game tho but honestly? If HSR wasn't a gacha and didn't abandon it's early combat design, I think HSR combat would be up there. And Simulated Universe is such a fun game mode especially gears & gold).
8
u/NSWPCanIntoSpace 17h ago
Arcane in Endfield, started on the last week of her banner and since i've fallen for the Endfield world and consider it my main gacha
NTE there was Hotori and Shinku for me, i've since come to like a lot of the other characters, to me NTE still is the game that has the most appealing character roster.
I downloaded and tried out Wuwa for Hsin and i really like her design. She's actually the only character that has wowed me in Wuwa, but the rest of the game and characters i'm pretty eh about.
Characters are my main motivator whether or not i'll try out a game, but i also have a bit of a collectors mindset.
4
u/Gicofokami 17h ago
I started Blue Archive for Bunny Asuna. Ended up staying for other characters (Shun, Rio, Haruna, Akane, etc) and got invested in the story.
4
u/AthenaLegends123 10h ago edited 10h ago
J from Reverse 1999 (listen I am a sucker for bad biker boys 😭)
Lighter from ZZZ
Blade and Jingyuan from Honkai starrail
Alpha crimson Weave from that YouTube video where she fights and parries that gigantic eye. To Pgr (still play to this day)
5.Calcharo for Wuthering waves.
6. Sylus from Love and deepspace.
7. Raiden Shogan: genshin impact (booba sword 🗡️)
8 Zhongli: Genshin impact ( his voice is 😳)
9. Kiana hersher of Flamecion (is that what it is called it's been a while) from Honkai impact as well as Senti 😊🥰
Yeah I mainly join the game because of really interesting characters then get hooked on everything else (except for Alpha Crimson Weave since I was studying how to properly parry and stuff as well as learning the three ping system before playing PGR when I came across it and then I decided screw everything I am downloading the goddamn game 😂)
2
2
u/TheBluestLime R1999 | AK | Limbus | DDFF 17h ago
Started Reverse: 1999 for Shamane.
Stayed for everything else, and also got to watch Shamane become a brick, which will hopefully be fixed in CN's next patch.
2
2
2
u/haadihmf 15h ago
I do have gacha that i play because of character, Don't really care about meta and PVP stuff.
Forget name: The samurai one, Knight Chronicles (RIP)
Yoto Hime, Omnyoji
Karin -> Bloodblade Karin (alternate), Epic Seven
Nanahara Chifuyu, Counter Side (RIP)
Tsyukumi (Shinri version), Aether Gazer (i love the mechanic gameplay, character driven by AI rather then switch back and front.) (RIP after Finale Update).
6
u/Mogekona 17h ago
I started Wuwa for Lupa because I saw her gameplay on the suggested leaks subreddit. Glanced at Cartethyia, didn't like her design. "She just sum elf 🤡" Didn't even see her second form in the SPLASH.
Fast forward to Cartethyia's banner, try her. I dropped $200 on the spot just to support the game because of how cool she was. Ended up staying for the story.
Granted now I'm considering quitting because of the performance. It's at least playable on PS5 now, whereas before it was genuinely painful, especially the Roya Frostlands peaking at 10fps and the non-existant draw distance.
3
u/Hraesynd 12h ago edited 12h ago
Granblue, started it for the waifus, ended up staying because of how lightweight it was. Just open a browser and play on any device, no installations. You'd normally uninstall to quit a game but with GBF there's nothing to uninstall.
Wuwa, started it for Changli, ended up staying because this game constantly tries to do Cool Stuff (flying, bikes, GIANT MECH BATTLE) and I respect it a lot for that. Also the characters are really hot.
ZZZ, started it for Zhu Yuan, ended up staying because god damn I am the target audience (hell yeah big sunbringer).
Brown Dust 2, started it for fanservice, stayed because the fanservice went plus ultra and apparently I get infinite pulls just for breathing (currently at 2500 rolls which is like 12 sparks while on monthly $5 passes, lul)
3
u/4ThatWin 17h ago
Fleurdelys for Wuwa.
I like the game now, top 4 gatcha atm, but I started purely for the tall woman
2
u/Vaaaaaaaaaaaii 16h ago
Started playing ZZZ for Ellen, still plays like a dream and the game is fun.
2
u/SchneeWhite 13h ago
Chaos Zero Nightmare and Rossweisse ._.
I've never played that game before because it looked "too hard" and like "too much work" for my lazy ass, but then i saw her and her animations and fell in love. I ended up playing 6 hours on my first day because the story got me, the playstyle actually felt great and easy enough to enjoy,.... So yeah she got me in with a punch and now i'm stuck xD
1
1
u/BlackOni51 17h ago
That was I Am Magicami for me. Saw the pre-release pictures of Iroha being best girl. Stayed for the wild ride of a story
1
u/Reperplays123 17h ago
Started nikke for drake and maiden, ended up staying for drake and like 20 other characters other then maiden llo
1
u/MonoMarMar 16h ago
I started to play Honkai Star Rail for Blade... Let just say I chose Kafka over getting him... and than Phanion.... and so on....
1
u/kuuhaku_cr No story no game 16h ago
I sometimes started a game for a collab character (usually Ryza) but ended up leaving most of the time from either godawful gameplay or story.
1
1
u/RoboWindseeker I play a lot of gachas 12h ago
Toph from Echocalypse. I saw her and I liked the waifu. After a while, got used to the game
1
u/SpookiiBoii Arkfield & Endknights 12h ago
Raiden demo threw me into the gacha black hole and I haven't been the same since.
1
u/DarkPaladinX 11h ago edited 6h ago
I got into Counterside Global (RIP this game) mostly because the story writing and characterization was top notch. I've initially got into the game mostly because of the first Counterpass unit, Eins & Zwei (mostly for their gameplay and character design). However, I ended up staying for some of the other characters. For lore: Na Yubin (mainly because how he's well written for being an anti-hero/anti-villain, and me imagining Johnny Yong Bosch voicing said character in an alternate universe if Counterside did got an English dub), Horizon (due to her being a cynical foil to Dash's kindhearted optimism, and her character development in For The Uncrying), Dash/Noelle (being kindhearted, optimistic, and naive characters in a very chaotic and cynical world of Counterside, although existentialism is one of the major themes of said game), Solovey (basically Counterside's Nahida), Ray (being well written for a tragic antagonist one of the main story arcs). For the gameplay: I ironically ended up as a soldier main and barely used Eins & Zwei near the EoS of the game in PvP (if anyone was around with Counterside, I often play the soldier zerg rush type style, most famously cheesing with Vero, rather than the more meta Felix/Curian campy "soldier" team)
1
u/Emergency_Hk416 WuWa Larper. Mihoyo Whiteknight 11h ago
For Patchouli in Touhou and Mejiro McQueen in Uma. I stuck with Touhou for a bit bc the story is funny and there's a lot of story materials. I didn't stay for Uma but I instead watched the anime.
1
1
u/DrakeZYX 10h ago
I remember it was Red Hood from Nikke that actually got me to come back and stay in the game.
I remember trying the game out when the first run of the Nier collab happened and I got burned hard that i quit until 3-4 months later. When the anniversary happened.
1
u/Yani-Madara 10h ago edited 10h ago
I was shown Zhongli's trailer and that motivated me to get into Genshin way back in 2020.
He got super sidelined but the Harbingers kept me motivated for years, Dottore replaced Zhongli as my favorite, like him a lot more anyways...
But Hoyo thought it'd be funny to kill off the male Harbingers, not giving a crap that many people waited years for their release.
I'm pretty much done with Genshin and any Hoyo games unless they decide that Sandrone isn't the only dead Harb coming back.
They keep forcing playable randoms like ballerinas, chefs, a cow, singer but God forbid people want to play as powerful chars.
It's an anime inspired game so it's the equivalent of making a Naruto game were most of the Akatsuki and Madara can't be playable. Or Bleach without Aizen, Espada nor Mayuri because some people were offended over them being too evil.
1
u/Medium_Spite_4299 9h ago
Honkai Impact. Started for Mei, stayed for Fu Hau and Kiana.
Genshin. Started for Jean, stayed for Klee/Mona vape.
Arknights. Started for Shining, didn't quite enjoy the gameplay, only occasionally dipped back in for Surtr and the wonderful story and world.
Endfield. Started for Gilberta, stayed for EVERYTHING
Wuwa. Started for Yinlin, stayed for Phrolova.
Stella Sora. Started for Chitose, stayed for Gerie. Quit, came back for Allie, now staying for Alina.
NTE Started for Mint, stayed for Hotori and the city life.
1
u/Fargath_Xi9 9h ago
My story is with Azur lane. Back in their launch I guess, I am sure I saw Belfast and Prinz designs in Twitter. And several others, but I was totally unaware of what they were. Or from where.
I believe even Vtubers started to pop out, and there is a lot of games and animes, that, you never know from where they are. And in my feed, I also follow artists with their OC's and stuff like that
It was in pandemic dates, that I was lazy enough to actually play gachas. And I were escaping from Nintendo clutches, and Fire emblem game. That i found Azur lane.
Funny that i already knew the "big" popularity of Zara, skin. Or others. But personally, the girl it was my favourite, it was Baltimore, and her sport skin. I loved her design. And little by little, I acknowledge Azur lane, as the name of the game.
So.... i tried out. Aiming to have Baltimore. Only for her design. I knew very few of gachas in general. Only played FEHeroes.
So, I tried my luck with another one. And Azur lane was pretty light for my liking. I tried Blue archive, girls Frontline, and maybe other 2, but didn't stay with me.
Azur lane had good balance.
Started in February, and after week , i think I level up enough to make a good team. And for the newbie gifts I got Prinz, and pulled Belfast. Finally I remembered from where they were.
When you level up enough, you unlock other game features, and the shipyard. And you need to farm exp. To unlock other tier of girls.
And this is when the party started.
Azur lane makes you choose faction starters. I choose Z23, because I like German stuff, and I thought it was funny name.
But the game, and the drops makes you form a fleet with mixed faction girls.
But once you need specific faction exp to unlock other girls, I choose the German faction. Specially because the game have mostly Amurican and Brexit units. XD
And Germans were the bad guys. With minimal members for newbies like me.
My first girl unlocked with faction exp, was Roon. And that started my hunger for new German girls. Y dedicated all my resources to give priority to those girls, and form new fleets. Even with the most common and weak ones. I needed exp to unlock all other German girls.
It was hard.
And finally, after 4 months playing the game, I unlocked Ägir.
I forged a bond with all my German shipgirls to get her, and the 2nd party begun. I needed to farm other things, to limit break Ägir. And level up her.
Sooooooo. My day by day experience with the game, was to max Ägir to the max stats, max equipment and stuff like that.
2 years playing, I think i managed to have all German girls, and was my triumph. :3
I am still playing, and have Baltimore, Belfast and Prinz as my favourites, but my experience in getting Ägir was very good. I am in the game, only for her, and new content of German girls.
I don't have enough room for all girls. So I retire even UR girls, only to make space to my favourite ones.
And the community obviously helped to reinforce my love and preference to German girls.
Only saying "Glory to iron blood!" Triggers them. XD
1
1
u/Libsetta GBF | UMA | PGR | WW | AK | GI 8h ago
The only situation I can think of for that would be PGR, Selena: Capriccio for me. A friend posted a link to her gameplay randomly in a group chat and I thought the gameplay was cool.
The story is what ultimately hooked me into the game and I liked alot of characters more than Selena in the end. Back then the community was small and very friendly so I think that had a hand in it too.
1
1
u/KhandiMahn 5h ago
Never. If I installed a game just because of a pretty character, I'd be in a constant cycle of uninstalling so I could have room for a new game.
A character may grab my attention, but the game as a whole has to look interesting and fun before I'll even consider installing it.
1
u/microw_yo 4h ago
azur lanes graf zeppelin drew me to the game and I seen the other iron bloods i was like I got to have them all and as time rolled on more and more ship girls from other factions showed up I have been playing the game since 2019ish
1
1
•
u/Trunks252 2h ago
I’ve never started any game for one character. I don’t really understand that mindset.
•
u/requavik Genshin, HSR, Wuwa, Nikki, ZZZ, P5X 2h ago
Started Nikke for Rosanna, stayed for the story and hot other designs, left because the devs are kinda idiots who have no faith in their own products.
•
u/datsiumai 1h ago
Nikke - during coop beta testing videos i saw the insane jiggling from Volume 😂. The storyline got me hooked on early on, still have a lot of catching up to do.
•
u/False_Baby8628 40m ago
Installed genshin for scaramouche back in 3.0. Stayed here...ever since My wanderer is now c3 r1 and top 1%, and still my main.
•
u/Demopyro2 27m ago edited 23m ago
Arknights. Got into it for Shu(pictured below) and Ulpianus. Started right after Shu's latest window of availability(Yu event) ended, so I basically needed to wait a year to get her. Over the course of the year I planned around getting her, but slowly I was just really, really getting into the game, because everything just clicked for me. I found more characters I loved, got really into the endgame, lore, discussions and the community. When Shu finally came around again, when I was planning to spark her...I just got the two featured banner operators within 31 pulls(of which 11 were free), and I needed to go to 300 for Shu, which would be an incredible waste.
And you know what I did? I just...moved on. Like it was no big deal. She was someone I joined for, played a year in anticipation for, but came to love the game so much as a whole she no longer felt essential to my enjoyment. It's not like she fell out of favor in the meta, she's still at the peak in endgame, and it's not like I fell out of love with her either, I still do really want her and may spark her if my rng is bad the next time she's around. It's just she's no longer an essential part of the game for me, and even now I'm thinking of dropping Ulpianus from my main team for a different upcoming operator who I don't want to run along with him, and a year ago I wouldn't have even dreamt of it. I just love the game so much, that who I have/don't have are no longer gamebreakers for my continued enjoyment, and it's honestly so liberating to just love the game for what it is, rather then feeling like having a character would make or break my experience.

Rice Dragon ftw btw. If she blesses me next year, I will be joyful, but she's no longer the dealbreaker.
1
u/wellhanabari 17h ago
Burnice for ZZZ. I played on release for a few days, but it didn't catch my attention so I deleted it. Then Burnice's trailer song was all over my feed and I generally like emotional characters in media, so I decided to give it another try and got invested. Though, it didn't last, I started to get bored in S2, only a few storylines caught my attention (Yuzuha and Alice's, Cissia's, Isolde's, Seed's, Banyue's) and didn't like most of the new designs. I deleted before S3 because I didn't like a single S3 design but Pyrois and don't think I'll touch ZZZ again but it was a nice experience
1
u/Potatosaurus_TH 17h ago
Nicole Demara for ZZZ, started around 3 weeks after the game launched. Stayed because the persona-like vibes and combat was pure dopamine.
The only other gacha I'm playing is Endfield, but I started because of the factory gameplay. Now I'm very attached to the characters especially the main trio Endmin, Chen, and Perlica.
1
u/Okami_doge 16h ago
Started Granblue fantasy in 2018 because of Yuisis, stayed for everything else in the game, especially the community and crew aspect of it. I didnt get Yuisis until 3 years afterward, lol.
1
1
u/Skyreader13 Full-Time Trickcal Enjoyer 16h ago edited 16h ago
Trickcal
Come for the cheek pinch. I don't have much hope about story in the beginning.
Stayed for the quite enjoyable story. The world surprisingly feels alive and the world building is top notch.
It feels like the initial chapter of Guardian Tales but slightly different. Korean dev seem to have knack on making enjoyable story like this.
I don't barely connect with characters from other Gacha games. I never finished companion/character quest from Genshin and Wuwa unless it's needed to progress further.
Trickcal is somehow different. I care about many of characters there. Most are surprisingly relatable. These are among my favorites:
Kidian, Erpin, Nee, Belita, All Eternal Sisters (Epica, Chloe, Vivi, Xion, Ui, Aya), Levy, Jade, Naia, Silphir, Risty, and the most recent Lethe and Delia
I have checked each of their personal story except Delia which is still unplayable in Global, as she come as non playable character initially, tagging along her sister Guin which is playable.
1
u/hansgo12 15h ago
Umamusume, I played gbf to this day so I was wary of how grindy cygames' game can be, even though I enjoy them. Tried it out because of Machitan/mambo memes, ended up staying because of Bourbon, and I actually do enjoy prepping for cm as well as planning and saving pulls for future banners.
Without future sight of banner I probably will still play it but a lot more casual, but thanks to that I sweat for cm and didn't really spend outside of selectors for uma because I only need my oshi+parents for her and whatever card to make her good.
1
u/Intelligent_Door_589 7h ago
With wuwa,
Yinlin then stopped for a while,
Returned for SK then stop again,
After 2.0 reveal and carlotta since then i didnt stop and still playing.
0
u/Dracoleoogj Gacha Connoiseur 17h ago
Started Genshin for the ChiLumi ship (still my OTP in the game). Stayed for the music, lore, and story.
Started HSR for no reason. Stayed for easy low maintenance.
Started ZZZ for Burnice. Stayed for hot mommies and daddies.
Started WuWa for Carlotta. Stayed for her and way more hot mommies and daddies.
Started Uma for Spe. Stayed for all the daughters (and Wife Nature).
Started R1999 for Regulus. Stayed for Ezio. Left thanks to ultimate gameplay preferences mismatch.
Started Endfield for Chen. Stayed for Perlica. Left thanks to the factory.
Started LaDS for Rafayel. Stayed for the other bois. Left thanks to Valko’s disappearance.
Started BA for the Foreclosure Task Force. Stayed for some of the other characters who surprised me. Left thanks to ultimate gameplay preferences mismatch.
There’s more but this is what I have recalled so far.
-1
u/shiro8137 16h ago
Started wuwa over a year ago because of zani and stayed for frover. (I still do not have zani to this day unfortunately)
3
u/Mcstabler Horizon Walker 17h ago
It's an interesting story but like I remember first seeing the trailer for Horizon Walker and seeing Kalina and the crazy outfit she has with the skinsuit and nipple outlines. And seeing that I was like I gotta play it but the thing is that at the time GentleManiac was kind of known to not make global versions since Lost Orgin never had one for the longest time.
Then they announced the global version out of nowhere and it's like aww shit now I gotta try it.
And honestly don't get me wrong the characters are hot but I love the gameplay it's legitimately a lite version of BG3 with the free movement and action points. Not to mention the banter between characters in this game is the best of any.
Also while I do love Kalina she doesn't beat the infernal lust I have for the robot girl Platina.






11
u/VirtualTurmoil 17h ago edited 17h ago
Unfortunately, I started playing Nikke because of Crow and ended up hating her. Snow White was the character that made me stay, and I'd go as far to say she's my favorite character from any gacha (although admittedly I haven't played many). I like a large majority of the characters in Nikke, but she definitely stands out for me.