Summary
The core concept ofSword of Convallariaimmediately drew me in. I’ve always lovedFinal Fantasy Tactics, and have always wanted to be able to play a similar game on the go. The involvement ofFF Tacticscomposer Hitoshi Sakamito made this one too good to pass up. Going into it, I knewSword of Convallariawas a free-to-playgacha game. As a dabbler in things likeFortniteandOverwatch2, I knew the FTP playbook all too well: seasonal content, battle passes, “premium” currencies, et cetera. But I had never played a gacha game before, and I was determined not to spend a single red cent.
In the back of my mind, I always thought I knew how gacha games worked. If you didn’t pay, you’d get a finite number of"pulls," which you’d use to summon new characters. The stronger a character was, the less likely they’d be to appear. I was okay with that: I love a challenge, and was willing to play with a less-than-ideal roster. Plus, I figured if I liked the game enough to keep playing it, I’d eventually manage to rack up enoughSoCcharacters worth investing in, just by sheer probability. Butthe reality of its character roster was far more frustrating. If other gacha games work similarly, then I’m all too happy to write the entire genre off.
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Sword Of Convallaria Locks New Game Mechanics Behind Incredibly Rare Summons
Not The Most Powerful Characters, But The Most Unique Ones
The problem is thatit’s not the strongest characters, but the ones with cool, unique mechanics that make the tactical gameplay interesting who are hidden behind a paywall. As a matter of fact, it’s not difficult to get purely powerful characters at all: the game’s story quests dole them out like candy, and I pulled two Legendary-tier characters on my very first try. They carried me through the first few sets of missions with ease. But they were boring to play, and I kept waiting for the tactical side of it all to get more interesting. That never happened. Even after I had unlocked a handful of abilities, my characters could really only attack, defend, or heal.
So I began looking into the other characters available, and I was shocked by what I saw. Rogues who could turn invisible; snipers who could attack enemies halfway across the map; druids who could transform into wolves; mages who could stack poison damage on enemies until they dropped dead. I wanted access to all that; even one of these would be the kick in the pants the gameplay needed. But of course,you had to pull for every single one of these unique, memorable characters. Unless you’re incredibly lucky (or spend a lot of money) to summon all of them, you’re stuck with a roster full of characters with incredibly repetitive skill sets.
Andthe expendable items I needed for each pull, bell-shaped flowers called Secret Fates, came at an impossibly slow drip. I expected to gain at least one every few days as a daily sign-in bonus, but not so. Apart from the handful I had received from tutorials andSoCpromo codes, I had to spend premium currency (Hope Luxites) on every single one. you’re able to earn a small amount of this currency just by completing missions, but it took far too long to save up enough to buy a single pull, let alone the ten you needed to use on certain banners. And there was always a chance that I’d waste all that time saving up, only to summon anything but the characters I’d actually wanted.
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So of course, the alternative was to spend money. But I had already steeled myself against that prospect, and the hoops I would’ve had to jump through to spend even a dollar onSword of Convallariadid nothing but dissuade me further. You can’t buy Secret Fates directly;you have to buy another premium currency first, Astral Gems, then convert that to Hope Luxites, and only then are you afforded the privilege of spending it on additional pulls.
Gacha Games Seem To Emphasize Strong Characters Over Interesting Ones
A Meta Problem
This is only made worse bya system that encourages you to pull for the strongest possible characters, not the most interesting ones. As I searched social media for tips on grinding and making my pulls count, I found countless comments suggesting the same advice: pull for Beryl! Pull for Gloria! But I already had both of these characters, and they were some of the most boring on my roster. Further research revealed that success in gacha games demands constant grinding, which creates two major problems.
Many players have accepted this as a necessary part of the genre, and sothe metagame becomes about collecting powerful characters who make your grinding sessions as painless as possible. But outside those grinding sessions, a party full of overpowered meta characters is no fun. You’re doing the same three things every turn, and battles are over in seconds. There’s no joy in winning a game like that. I’d rather have a roster full of mid-tier characters who provide an actual challenge, requiring me to use multiple gameplay mechanics, and ultimately give me a nice little ego boost each time I win.
The other problem is thatall that gacha game grinding often amounts to only a fractional percentage of a chance at pulling the characters you actually want. I’m no stranger to grinding (I’m anFF Tacticsfan, for Ajora’s sake), but it only feels worth my while when there’s a guaranteed result, like additional levels, items, job points, whatever. WithSword of Convallariaand other gacha games, though, there’s a chance you’ll never get the thing you’re grinding for - in fact, if you’re pulling for a Legendary character, it’s statistically the most likely result.
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Of course,you could just keep buying premium currency until you pull enough characters to comfortably do both. But that either means more incessant grinding, or spending exorbitant amounts of money. While other gacha games might not lock unique mechanics behind paywalls likeSword of Convallaria, these problems, at least, seem pretty ubiquitous, and I want no part of them. I want a game that respects my time, where content isn’t hidden behind paywalls - or, if it is, I’m at least guaranteed to get what I’m paying for.
So I gave up, and paid seven dollars to download the mobile port ofFinal Fantasy Tactics. Sure, I had violated my no-spending rule, but the price was one-and-done, and I could access everything about the game without paying another cent. After playing it for an hour, I deletedSword of Convallariafrom my phone, and swore off the gacha genre entirely.
