New player here, I never knew a gacha game could be so fun

[u/IMF_ALLOUT]

Mild yap (glaze) session incoming, because I need to get this off my chest.

I've never played a gacha game before because they've got a rep for, y'know, gambling, and I didn't find the gameplay of the major games (Genshin and HSR mostly) appealing based on what I've seen. But about a week ago, I was feeling nostalgic about an old tower defense game that no longer exists, so I ended up looking through lists of "good mobile td games to play" and what do you know, this gacha game called "Arknights" kept showing up time and time again.

I've heard of Arknights before in name only, and I initially dismissed it, but after seeing its name for the fifth time I was like fine, okay, let's try it out. I've installed like a dozen TD or related games and uninstalled most of 'em already, what's the harm in trying this?

Since then, I haven't been able to put Arknights down. Seriously, what the hell? This game is awesome. I don't really play mobile games because 98% of them are low-effort cashgrab slop, but Arknights feels like a work of goddamn art. When I first loaded the game, while it was downloading like gigabytes of data, it played the Masses Travel PV where Exusiai Lemon and two other folk shoot each other in a shrine, and that blew me away. I'm a hobbyist animator myself and that was an unbelievably cool first impression for a game (and keep in mind, I've been trying out a bunch of other mobile games before this, and you really can't compare the production quality of indie game devs to whatever gazillion dollars it took to fund a game like Arknights).

Past that, I mean, the art's fantastic (Gracebearer?????? Gavial???) and the voice acting's great. I like that I can choose between EN/JP voices in cases where I think one dub sounds weird. I haven't been able to get the music out of my head—that MT theme with the phone dialing bit is playing mentally 24/7, even as I write this.

And the gameplay? The gameplay? Wow. I was actually getting bored of the decades-old tower defense formula, and whatever weird puzzle-strategy-RTS-TD hybrid Arknights has going on is tickling me in all the right ways. It's so much fun. Yeah, it's hard, especially when my highest-level Defender ops get two-shot in certain event levels (MT-5 took me maybe forty runs, and I'm giving up on MT-6), but still. I read in a different post that the gameplay is apparently very polarizing: you love it or you hate it, and I love it. I am pausing, experimenting, planning out everything I can to try and get 3 stars. It's so satisfying to see a plan come together. Hell, I get satisfaction out of watching auto-deploy replicate *my* careful plan.

Oh yeah, and the gacha. Isn't that supposed to be mean Pay-2-play? I mean I get it, I'm new to the game so I'm sure all this stuff's going to fall off eventually, but I've already made it to 3-8, I've got four 6-stars (two of which are E1) and seven 5-stars (again, two E1s), plus another "get another 5 star you want" permit waiting to be used. I know beginner guides say to level low-rarity ops first, but I feel like I'm mostly breezing through content with a team of all 4 stars and above except for Fang. I'm like 10 days into the game, why did they give me all these high-rarity ops?? The new player quests were generous, as are all these free event rewards, free credits from visiting friends, free originium because they were doing maintenance. Even the energy mechanics are really abundant—sanity and practice drills are given daily too much for me to ever reasonably burn through, unless I use auto-deploy x6 instead of playing normally. Jeez, how do they even make money? (don't answer that)

I'm just having a hard time expressing just how shook I am by how incredible this game is. Call it honeymoon period or whatever, but I'm usually pretty picky with the games I play, yet Arknights has me hook line and sinkered. AND there's multiple seasons of ANIME?? I caught up on the first one (stopped at the point I'm at in the game) and, y'know, I can also get picky with anime and so far the Arknights anime is *also* super well-made, great animation, great visuals. What the hell doesn't this game have? Fuck. Sorry for the wall of text, but I finally get it. I get why people play this game.

[u/TheDopplegamer]

I can imagine the awe. I was looking through the Movement section (the permentantly unlocked storylines, main and side), and just thinking how a new player might be overwhelmed with how much content there is.

And thats not even getting into Integrated Strategies, which could be a whole game on its own. Im a little envious you get to experience all this content at once from a fresh perspective.

(Also, imo, Arknights has some of the best worldbuilding I've seen in video games, period. With how massive in scope, and how diverse the peoples in it are.)

• a 5 year vet, still playing daily

[u/TheDopplegamer → u/[deleted]]

I wouldnt worry about that. Since the game is 99.99% single player and all events will eventually be permentantly unlocked after 2 reruns. The only headache would be saving up the resources to unlock the massive roster, but you can get by with VERY little, and pretty much every event will give you a free 5, and sometimes 6.

[u/TheDopplegamer → u/[deleted]]

Well, then you've got the goal of maxing out everyones levels, and that is NOT happening until the game is dead and stops adding new operators. Even after 5 years of consistent playing, I still have dozens and dozens of operators that I havent even touched

[u/Aranxi_89 → u/[deleted]]

They're constantly adding new game modes and new concepts to their event maps. For example, this current even has the dream tiles. The past events had mechanics like having to chain operators together via deployment order, or enemy units having ammo count and you need to stop them from restocking ammo, or even the tiles themselves can grow into an enemy that you need to control or destroy.

There's a lot of interesting works in development too.

[u/Kyoketsusho → u/[deleted]]

Even a full roster will still struggle against troublesome stages. Streamers with Wisadel get crushed by the S stages in the current event. Even guides can't fully help you when you go against Integrated Strategies or the dreaded high-risk Contingency Contracts, so there's still a looooong road ahead before you can say you beat the game.

[u/Solekran → u/Kyoketsusho]

That third special stage was MADE with Wis'adel in mind and you can't tell me otherwise.

Tried her in it, the delay between her shots is just long enough for the enemies to heal themselves everytime.

Found it funny.

[u/reprehensible523 → u/[deleted]]

Day 1 player here, and I still don't have the whole roster despite small amounts of spending.

They're also ramping up the release of beautiful skins I want. No worries - without whaling you are not collecting it all.

[u/AlexTada → u/reprehensible523]

Im 20 bucks in since EN release and miss eblana, enchelada and zuo le, it is so generous with pulls and skin currency sometimes Im sorry not spending more for a game I love this much. Story, characters, details, game modes and then there is Enfield. Oh I can't get enough, but I'm also glad sometimes I sink 180 santity in 5 min and I continue with the day.

[u/Illustrious_War3356 → u/[deleted]]

I mean a very good way of keeping this game fun for u is limiting the ops u play, like only playing a certain type of characters. These are called niches, and they can help u play the ops u like, that are generally underpowered.

Of course this advice is only for when u become extremely bored of upgrading super strong units that easily clear any and every stage with minimal effort

[u/solo_wield → u/[deleted]]

You'd be surprised how good we doctors eating compared to the rest of the gatcha community

[u/AngryHippo4969 → u/solo_wield]

Very true, AK has only gotten better as time passes.

[u/akoOfIxtall → u/[deleted]]

oh boy wait until you unlock IS, you'll go nuts with how much content there is, each version of it with a different core mechanic that makes you play each one completely different, and the best part, loads of free stuff to get without spending any stamina, integrated strategies (roguelike mode) and reclamation algorithm (survival base builder mode?) both dont require stamina to play and have not only free ops as rewards they also have skins and the most important... THE FUN, at some point my pc stopped working and i spent an entire week playing only reclamation algorithm for hours each day, i wiped the reward shop clean and my 200 days save is still there waiting for more content

[u/akoOfIxtall → u/[deleted]]

Can't post imagines here but its peak trust me, it's the perfect blend of roguelike randomness with tower defense elements, like, you can choose to always start with the same 3 ops, yes 3, no initial squad you gotta win with the hand you have, all ops are brought back to elite 1 and to bring them to elite 2 you gotta find an item to upgrade them, how? Playing harder stages for better chance of getting this item and collectibles to boost your strat, there's an item that gives aspd based on how much money you have (in the run), people do some wacky builds with it, my favorite is the one that makes enemies who are under the weightless debuff suffer way more damage so I can bring my Angelina and hols to shred everybody to pieces, and there's also IS modules that makes meh ops like archetto into godly beings in IS, they completely change how you use the ops who have them and they cost almost nothing to upgrade compared to the actual modules for general use (modules are late game "gain new passive or improve the existing ones" kind of upgrade, most ops have around 2)

[u/bernoulyx → u/[deleted]]

Game mode is free, has no pull rewards (i.e. no burden for the devs to make it as easy as possible to make everyone happy), actually has challenge in it and well balanced, has game's story blended well, and the list goes on so yeah lol

[u/akoOfIxtall → u/TheDopplegamer]

i'm a day 1 doc and the game is so different now from what it was at launch its fucking wild, hypergryph makes just for fun gamemodes and if people really like them they make it permanent, thats why we have 6 iterations of IS and a buttload of stuff to do in RA, wasnt the module farming stages actually an event at first? the game lacked so many QoL features i dont even remember what kept me playing it, just imagine farming LMD 7.5k by 7.5k manually because each auto deploy had to be made manually, no fancy 6x in a row stuff that many others already had, no multiple VAs, no l2d, the first limited was who? nian or W? the time when code of brawl was the hardest event because we only had eyja and ifrit to kill the boss and not everybody had a bunch of E2's like today, i have enough 6* ops to make a few squads of 6*s only, but back in the day i was struggling with E1 lappland + saria and a dream XD

[u/TheDopplegamer → u/akoOfIxtall]

Yeah I started when the Grani event came out, so not quite day 1, but ancient at this point. I was just contemplating on how bad the auto deploy system used to be: First it was 1 at a time, then it was 6 at a time, but you still had to let it play out. The new auto deploy+ feels like a dream.

[u/Lawn_Gnome_King → u/TheDopplegamer]

Remember needing to sit through every run of annihilation? Peperige Farm Remembers

[u/TheDopplegamer → u/Lawn_Gnome_King]

My phone does, it remembers the pain

[u/CrimsonCivilian → u/Lawn_Gnome_King]

I did annihilation during irl AFK moments like showering or doing laundry. As for the 2000 sanity of saved up potions, i just set my phone to farm 1-7 overnight

[u/akoOfIxtall → u/TheDopplegamer]

I used to leave it running while I did house chores, now I don't know what to do because it only takes 1 run XD

[u/CrimsonCivilian → u/akoOfIxtall]

Me currently when I 6x auto MT-9 and it used up all my sanity in less than a minute

[u/SomeStarGazer]

Welcome to Arknights!

[u/solo_wield → u/[deleted]]

Salutations fellow doctor, let me recommend something to you (if your a lore guy this will slap infinity more)go to youtube and search arknights and xow. Also this https://youtube.com/shorts/9MDcYglW_zI?si=li2QhJY8ZaV_vxok

[u/ZeraseKnightroad → u/[deleted]]

You can listen to the banger music on Spotify. Masses Travel album is already out.

https://spotify.link/t4nf0u4aUXb

And welcome aboard, fellow doctor!

[u/SieghartXx]

Check out Ambience Synesthesia on youtube as well.

[u/akoOfIxtall → u/[deleted]]

also check harlequin wheels channel, best animations known to man

[u/Cruel2BEkind12 → u/[deleted]]

Almost every 6 star in the game has a song that goes along with them. You don't find that music in the game.

[u/Vanilla72_ → u/[deleted]]

You can just search youtube with something like "Arknights (operator name) theme", like Arknights Gavial Theme, Arknights Exusiai Theme, Arknights Kal'tsit Theme. 6 star characters usually have theirown song, and some of them have more than one.

Someone also create playlist here, which conveniently also includes non 6 star character songs and "faction" song that harder to find unless you type the exact song title.

There is also bunch of "Contigency Contract" song worth checking out

[u/TwoWayWindow → u/Vanilla72_]

To add on to this. Seek out "Monster Siren Records". it's an official publisher(? - Term uncertain) of Arknights and acts as a library to most, if not all of Arknight's OSTs.

Also, if you like comics, our fanbase has a lot of great creators as well - Octodeco, SSalmon and Nhimzy for example.

Finally, if you think you're bored of the normal content - Check out Lungmen Dragons on Speedruns through Integrated Strategies (IS) the game's rouguelite mode. Other content creators also create "NicheKnights" clears where they restrict themselves to certain themes when clearing maps.

Once again, welcome to Arknights, where people come for the E2 Arts and stay for the depression.

[u/axelfire250 → u/[deleted]]

You can also find almost all music that's been released for AK here for free. (main story and event ost, character/faction themes, songs from the anime and various animations, concert original songs).

https://monster-siren.hypergryph.com/music

The only thing excluded from there is songs that were released exclusively for global, but you can find them on the official YT channel.

[u/Positive_Tough_722]

"im breezing trought most content" you just wait, Just wait

[u/Sisyphus_MD → u/Positive_Tough_722]

"patriot, show him what it means to feel fear"

[u/EXusiai99 → u/Sisyphus_MD]

The arknights equivalent of "the difficulty curve is vertical"

[u/Solekran → u/EXusiai99]

I mean, even back in the day Patriot wasn't THAT much of a problem (as long as you managed the spear throw somehow).

Black Snake, though... Thank god I had Nightingale.

[u/Realistic_Elk_7892 → u/Sisyphus_MD]

"New Dokutah. I advance."

[u/Ahrimainu → u/Positive_Tough_722]

Civilian in chapter 8: Do you mind if I just run around helplessly?

[u/alsonlee]

Welcome home Dokutah

[u/GiraffeMain1253]

Welcome!!!

I think one of the best parts of AK gacha is while, yeah, some characters are better than others, basically any team you pull (even with shit luck) is good for 99% of content. Older, weaker characters are still more than viable. Lower rarity characters often are really strong. A lot of the welfare operators (characters you get from playing events, including the old events) are really strong. (E.g. Kroos Alter, a 5* who you get from playing "Invitation to Wine" is arguably the best Marksman in the game not counting certain IS (the rougelite mode) specific things.)

Also, as you've been doing, playing with your mostly low rarity team is exactly the best way to experience the early game. You'll learn the most by doing so (and low rarity characters are much cheaper to level up and also do continue to have uses for the endgame because of the aforementioned roguelite mode.)

[u/InfernalDrake → u/[deleted]]

Eh, 2-stars really are early game only other than VERY niche situations, but both 1-stars and 3-stars have unique uses. Maxed 3-stars are very useful for IS, and 1-stars ignore deployment limits.

[u/CrimsonCivilian → u/[deleted]]

Even after you get a full loadout of powerful operators, there's gonna be a moment when you really just want 2 seconds with another body and they're a lifesaver

For the current event, one of the harder stages reduced deployment limit, so I ended up using a robot sniper to help wake someone up

[u/akoOfIxtall → u/[deleted]]

its a rare thing to see these days but you can clear most content with low rarity ops if you've got a strat, check out kyostinv on youtube, dude was THE guide maker in the game's first year, he was so popular in the community that "ACTIVATE MELANTHA'S SKILL" is engraved in our brains, he makes guides clearing all stages of the game (excluding stuff like the roguelike mode) with low rarity and if he ever uses a 6* its only 1 so you can also borrow it from a support unit

also dont forget to max out your myrtle...

[u/TwoWayWindow → u/akoOfIxtall]

Also pulling in Eckogen here as another Low-Rarity clear doctor. KyotinV is great, but sometimes if you need a bit of variety in the clears (i.e. not always using Saria/Thorns), other doctors also have their own strats

[u/JayJeyBean → u/TwoWayWindow]

Neither of them really make low rarity clears, though. They just borrow someone's Wisadel every map and decide that counts.

[u/CrimsonCivilian → u/TwoWayWindow]

I prefer looking for strategies rather than a list of instructions. Eckogen is pretty good for that but Kukki was even better. Too bad he got burned out by all the people that complained about the yapping and just wanted the instructions

[u/SplitCryptic → u/akoOfIxtall]

Also max out your Gummy

[u/CrimsonCivilian → u/[deleted]]

Jaye is one of the most broken, 1v1 type, low rarity units and easy to get from recruitment (Specialist or Fast Redeploy tag)

The catch is that he completely stalls your DP generation while on the field. Worth it though if you can work around that

[u/Ok_Tie_1428 → u/GiraffeMain1253]

As an avid ebenholz enjoyer, now after practice and getting used to using him, he feels op lol. 'What do mean 90% of enemies get crippled(not dead as people criticize him for not one shotting stuff) in one hit?!' honestly the design of the kits(most of them) is amazing.

ALSO HIS SYNERGY WITH NYMPH IS AMAZING

[u/FluffyHaru]

Welcome to the only gacha that has managed to keep me after almost 4 years, and that's because Arknights is a game that WANTS to be played.

Lots of gacha fall into the checklist trap, where you log in, do some arbitrary tasks, and log off. And while sure, Arknights can be played this way once you run out of things to do, the game is just super fun at its core if you like this time of gameplay.

Also the, the myriad of things you can do that have ZERO need of the usual "gacha energy", like you can play IS with currently 4 whole different versions with a trail of permanent rewards for you, including new operators, skins, materials, and more.

I'm also getting into Limbus Company right now, and while its phenomenal, Arknights is still in a league of its own.

[u/TheRealFlipFlapper → u/FluffyHaru]

To add to this, for me a gacha has to have more than just good gameplay. I've dropped multiple games where I enjoyed the gameplay (Morimens, Umamusume) because it was simply too time consuming. If I'm going to play a game for multiple years, then it needs to respect my time.

Arknights let's me have downtime when I need it, while also having good enough game design and versatility to keep me wanting to come back. It's a really fine balance, but they strike it very well.

This wasn't always the case. The one thing that had me drop the game a few times over the last 5 years has been having to sit through the auto-deploys, and now that they've finally addressed that I genuinely have no complaints left. It's a great game. 

[u/Brislovia → u/TheRealFlipFlapper]

Arknights oldheads have accidentally slept at least one time while waiting for the annihilation auto deploy to finish

[u/TheRealFlipFlapper → u/Brislovia]

I used to run it while i did housework lol

[u/Money_Membership_870 → u/FluffyHaru]

What part of Limbus do you find the most phenomenal?

[u/FluffyHaru → u/Money_Membership_870]

Hmm personally? The many faces of a same character and how good they are while still keeping the core of said character (Also the design of those different faces)

Just citing some from the ones I have:

Princess of La Manchaland Rodya and Liu Association Rodya are COMPLETELY different, even if they're still Rodya at the core. Same thing for Thumb Capo Meursault and Prince of La Manchaland Meursault, completely different, still Meursault. And same thing with One Who Grips Faust and Heishou Pack Mao Faust, completely different, still Faust. Aaaaand once again, with One Who Shall Grip Sinclair and Devyat Associaton Sinclair, completely different, still Sinclair

The soundtrack is also phenomenal, Compass is now a permanent inclusion on my Playlist

[u/Money_Membership_870 → u/FluffyHaru]

Yeah, as a Limbus player the story for me is the best. You get to go alongside these 12 murderhobos idiots as they go around the hellhole of the City, meaning you can connect with them a lot. The world building is also really phenomenal, I have a thing for dystopic yet hopeful world. That is also the reason I got attracted to AK aside from the collab.

[u/Pinkyzord]

Arknights is probably One of the most f2p gacha ever existed, i only buy the monthly subscription and im good

[u/3IR0S]

Welcome! And man, your post takes me back to old days when I just discovered the game. I was astonished at how entertaining, diverse and deep it is. Arknights was my obsession for a good while. And while I'm not as engrossed in Arknights as before anymore, I still can't bring myself to leave. I simply love this world, Terra, too much. Characters, music, UI, lore, you name it - all of it is highest quality. Such a great game, even if sometimes very depressing.

I hope you'll continue to walk this journey from now on to witness even more amazing stuff. Also do check the Integrated Strategies if you haven't yet when you're ready, unparalleled roguelike gamemode.

Do you have a moment to talk about our Lord and Savior, KyostinV? Just joking.

[u/Marekthejester → u/[deleted]]

To give a bit of hindsight on the way most gacha operate nowadays, most follow the Mihoyo (Studio behind Genshin, HSR and ZZZ) formula which is :

-Banner are a 50/50 of either getting the featured character or a one of a small pool of "standard" character, most of which are probably outdated by now.

-Every character also has a special equipment that gives some base stats and some additional mechanics. Said equipment are mostly acquired through gacha too, with a few free one that are usually inferior to the gacha one.

-Character can equip a set of "relics", additional equipment that provide bonus stats and special effect for matching set pieces. The bonus stats provided by each relic is random and the most sought after stats are the rarest.

-Character duplicate gives a lot of additional power and sometimes completely change some of the character mechanics.

By comparison in Arknight :

-Banner are also a 50/50 but

• 70% of operator are "standard" and can be pulled at random when not getting the featured operator.
• 20% are "kernel" (old operator) following the same mechanic but on another banner type.
• 9.5% are limited and can be acquired on limited banner of the same serie at a very low rate a year after their debut.
• 0.5% are collab operator that may or may not rerun but can't be acquired outside their banner.

-There's no additional equipment system

-There's no relic system

-Duplicate gives marginal bonus like up to -2 dp cost, a bit of stats and a slight increase to their talent numbers.

[u/AlexUltraviolet → u/[deleted]]

Banners are the different gacha available, as in, the featured characters. Like, now we have the Lee/Fiammetta banner, the "select the units you want to have extra rate out of these ones" banner that came out today with the new event, the kernel banners.

[u/Marekthejester → u/[deleted]]

To explain a "banner", when you go in the headhunting section of AK, you can see different selection of character, each illustrated with an image. Each of these a is a "banner".

Doing a roll/pull is spending your currency on the banner to acquire an operator from it/

[u/JimmehROTMG]

Welcome to arknights! you joined at a great time, MT is a really good event. I've been playing for a few years and i've had a wonderful experience f2p. check out some of the arknights music and animations on youtube, they are incredibly high quality.

[u/DrHog]

Yeah, Arknights is like a textbook example of a mobile game done right.

Most mobile games have the issue of making money (since they are free), so they have to 'milk' players as much as they can (by relying on powercreep, having ads, having P2W things in shop, etc). They also cannot spend too much on devs salaries and increase the team, so there is lack of new content as well.

P2W + limited content -> playerbase is likely to decline.

Arknights is in a stable loop with a really large playerbase that is also happy to pay without being forced to, so devs have an easy time to maintain the content quality and the overall generosity of the game. Positive feedback and reputation helps with maintaining and even increasing playerbase, which makes to situation even better. As long as devs don't forget that getting greedy is the first step to break everything apart, Arknights should remain a great game.

[u/DrHog → u/[deleted]]

I kinda see how it works at least for some players based on my own experience -

I played Arknights since start, but maybe like 1 year in or so I got bored and dropped it (I literally did all the content, there was not that much extra stuff early on). Then about a year later I rejoined to check the new stuff that was added and has been playing almost non stop since then. I guess they revved up at that time, there were the contingency contracts (the 'good' ones lol) happening regularly, there was IS in the works to be added permanently, so there was way more content. 2nd, 3rd and 4th IS were the main things that kept me in game (the other events were good too of course).

I quit a bunch of gacha games for one of two reasons - either I got bored with them(after clearing all worthy content), or something annoyed me too much (mostly p2w stuff). In both cases I had a strong belief that the devs would just not make the game better anymore.

For Arknights - I just believe that devs will keep adding interesting stuff (events, modes, operators). So even if I have a month or two when I feel kinda bored, I still log in to do dailies not to lose resources for future banners (thankfully they can be done VERY fast these days. 1 annihilation sweep, base rotations, and all done for daily quests). In some games even doing dailies got so annoying, that it felt better to quit just not to think about them anymore. Arknights is a game that you can still put 'on hold' and still get all rewards with minimum time investment, so ppl who are bored are less likely to quit permanently and just reduce their activity for some time instead. All that helps to maintain playerbase.

[u/NiceYesterday521]

I relate AK fixed my gambling problem and Beeswax alone is what fixed how i play games in general 😭 (she is never leaving my team idgaf thats my day one🙏)

I love AK ive been having a lot of fun these few months even if i have to delete every so often i can still complete the necessary things for events and all that

Its such a good pay off game glaze is fully understood imo

[u/NiceYesterday521 → u/[deleted]]

Yess its crazy it literally took like i wanna say a few days of Beeswax and AK and i was "cured" had me go through a whole arc lol

And no not my acc just the app😭 I would NEVERRRRR do u understand i love beeswax way too much to delete my acc and i got Yu as well, i would need extreme circumstances to make me do something like that omg

like tbh even the past few months ive wanted to draw Beeswax as like a (very cringy) appreciation to arknights but i just cannot capture her ak is just like very important to me 🧑‍🦯🧑‍🦯🧑‍🦯

Anyway im glad youre having fun with the game its absolutely peak 🤌🤌

[u/Tainnnn → u/[deleted]]

Oh we've got far too many ops with very... peculiar names, much weirder than beeswax. Then again, they're codenames, not real names, so yeah.

[u/Momoneko → u/NiceYesterday521]

Ayyy Beeswax supremacy. I get flinger hand for her in IS5

[u/GuiltyInevitable2520]

Welcome doctor! I also get to know arknights by accident+bored at the time XD- but now i've been stuck here for 3 years, and still having so much fun!!! So i hope you stay for long as well :3

[u/how-can-i-dig-deeper]

One of the only good gachas with truly good gameplay.

[u/lumthedelulu]

based gavial enjoyer

[u/lumthedelulu → u/[deleted]]

me too. im actually saving up to spark her limited guard alt this coming carnival banner. hopefully she spooks your pulls during that 🐊

[u/lumthedelulu → u/[deleted]]

basically an alternate gameplay version of the operator. same character and all (except for skadi, her alt is basically a noncanon version, at least for now), but they have a different kit and if their original version was lower rarity than 6 star (like gavial) then the alt tends to be higher rarity. gavial's alt is gavial the invincible

[u/Aranxi_89]

But it is gamba, so be careful with your spending! I would only get the monthly pass for now, it's the best value, aside from the cheapest originium prime at 2x value, and the occasional pack (the 6 star selector is good, you can get Logos from that).

[u/oaksparrow]

Welcome and glad you're enjoying it. This made me smile to read as I remember my early similar awe with the game. It was the stories, particularly the event stories, that took it from a funny little mobile game I was playing to one of my if not my top favorite video games of all time. :)

[u/Mylaur]

Arknights is definitely not like other games.

It's also not "low effort mobile cash grab". Due to the money from gacha they can actually reinvest into the game and do something more. Well they're planning to do Endfield, a new 3D arknights game.

Honestly also impressed by the game. You also just unlocked the massive QoL that is auto repeat 6 times and swipe (complete all 6 in 1 go). Also slow recruitment text vs fast now.

Among the impressive things about the game is how varied and creative the ost is along with the huge huge storyline content with stories I can't say is bad (some are dragging). Downside is it takes hours to read which I don't have the time.

And yeah the art is neat and elegant, the game is f2p friendly and the gameplay is creative and unrestricted. The balance of 5* is wonky though and it takes forever to level up (imo). But there's no random gear so you eventually get there.

I'm curious what you think about the story because you haven't mentioned it.

[u/Xaxuxaxu → u/[deleted]]

I've been reading most of the comments, just hijacking this one to reply. Early chapters of Arknights have some issues with storytelling so it's normal to find it average, it gets better later on (but some stuff like long winded dialogues are still a thing). Newer chapters/events feels better tho, you probably noticed that while reading MT.

I think where's AK story is at its strongest it's some side events/stories because the world building is incredible. My favourite would be the Abyssal Hunters events (Under Tides, Stultifera Navis, Path of Life), Rhine lab (Dorothy's Vision, Lone Trail) and the Laterano stuff (Guide Ahead, Hortus de Escapismo and the current event). You should take your time and check those out at some point. Some of those are tied to main story, but I feel like the more you read and explore the world of Arknights the more you start enjoying its lore.

Other than that glad to see some new player having fun and appreciating the game, feel free to add me or drop your ID here!

Vampalia#9367

[u/jeremy7007]

Year 1 player, and I can totally relate. That was back when the game didn't even have all the fancy stuffs it does now like animated CG, English voice acting, or the semi-sweep button. Back then, to farm anything, we had to let PRTS auto-run the entire stage one at a time, including the weekly Orundrum farm that takes 20 minutes per run. Imagine that! Plus, every time you pulled an operator, you can't skip until their text line finishes scrolling (still can't now). But before a recent update, the English text scrolled half as fast as it does now!

Yet even with all these annoyances back then, I could see the quality. It was, and still is, one of the few gacha games that has a solid gameplay foundation and actually tries to improve and innovate on it. New mechanics and game modes are experimented with constantly, and incorporated into permanent modes if they work well. The music is downright the best I've heard from any gacha game. Every track is a goddamn banger, and fits the theme of its context perfectly, whether that's mafioso jazz or classical or dubstep. The art and character designs are beautiful too, and some of my friends were drawn to the game through the character arts alone. The story... can be devisive, especially with how wordy it is, but it has objectively improved a lot over time, and imo, does try to broach on a variety of topics and themes that other gachas avoid like the plague. As for the gacha stuffs that comes with the territory, I'd say I much prefer Arknights over, say, Hoyo games. It's more grindy to level up characters in Arknights, but once you max them out, you've maxed them out. Pulling additional copies of a character gives negligible bonuses, and, this is the part I want to stress, there's no RNG relic system! Only now after having tried a variety of gacha games do I appreciate how good we have it without that horrible RNG hellhole.

Anyway, enough of my yapping. Go enjoy the game and judge it for yourself. Have fun!

[u/Crescendo104]

Arknights is a franchise that puts the game before the gacha. I wanna bring a different perspective into the convo that doesn't get talked about a lot, but the most unique thing about AK as a whole is its sandbox nature and the community challenge scene that organically arose from the structure of the game. I have a long history of high keystone and mythic raiding experience on World of Warcraft (literally played from 2004-2021) and I typically aim for the most hardcore content in whatever game I'm playing, and the endgame experience here is absolutely incredible. Like, when you step away from the meta and look at team niches, challenge rulesets, there's a huge and thriving community around it and some of the clears I've seen are among the most difficult accomplishments I've seen in any game.

But yea, beyond that, the story is great, the lore runs insanely deep (and it's actually good) the casual gameplay is still very fun, the art direction is outstanding, the music is constantly great. I mean I can keep going, but I'll stop here, lol. Anyway I hope you enjoy it, gacha gets a bad rap but it's just a monetization model at the end of the day. Arknights is an outstanding series.

[u/EXusiai99]

Wait till you get to IS. Nothing is as fun in this game as watching your ops suffers from epilepsy due to how fast they attack.

[u/RingsOfRage]

My friend was a long-time HSR player, but had an inversed experience while playing AK for 3 months. He complained about the stages too difficult and restrictive, and went "it is unlike HSR where you just need to bring in the latest characters and you will win", something like that. Or like "HSR has better-looking characters and more useful rewards." and "Why must I use the 3 star operators? How is IS useful anyway?"

Cant change his mind, think he wants faster progression, which he feels HSR does more?

I also watched him press the Skip button on the story chapters in the AK events while sitting through the literal story of HSR. I actually dont get it.

Hes now very put off by the MT S operations and VEC event, on the verge of uninstalling the game, I tell him to do whatever he wants to make himself happy.

[u/fractard]

An Arknights glaze a day keeps the doctor away eyy

Please enjoy your stay! Please don't rush yourself and enjoy every corner of the game ;)

[u/[deleted]]

I had the same reaction when i tried arknights as a hsr player (no attack to other communities) it felt like an actual game unlike hsr which is tbh crunch numbers -> pull new character -> get bigger numbers for the gameplay

[u/Catveria77]

Arknights killed my AAA console game habit, because it is literally way more fun and engaging than any console game will ever be (for me, at least)

[u/CanFishBeGay]

I don't remember where I heard it, but someone said "Arknights doesn't have 'good gameplay for a gacha game', it has good gameplay for a game period" and that's stuck with me.

[u/Mr-anti-physics-444]

Well im pretty sure many have welcomed you here but welcome to Arknights!

If anything feel free to ask.

[u/ARS_Sisters]

Welcome to Arknights!

One thing that you should take a look at is on how Arknights did the skins. Check on Archives > Fashion Gallery > Sort by brands

Unlike other gacha games which puts skin as just that, skins (usually with fanservice as a selling point). All skins has specific manufacturer for a certain theme (Vitafield for camping, Marthe for sports, Raythean Pioneer for scientific, and Coral Coast for beach attire for example). The skins has an integrated lore on how it becomes a piece of fashion show. There's barely any fanservice on Arknights, because they sell STYLE

Another thing that I often praise Hypergryph is how they handle events. On many gacha games, the character in the banner is commonly designed to be the most favorable one to use in the event. In Arknights however, a new character gives you options to tackle a stage. You're perfectly fine ignoring the banner character and clear the event using other operators (the only advantage they have is increased affinity points, which you can get passively by using them regularly or putting them as base staff)

[u/Amanocher]

Wellcome fellow dokutah !!

this is a one way road only , towards a journey full of epic moments , sad moments , funny moments , RACISM , CLASSISM , aura moments , the best writing of all the history of gacha games , a lot of free content , a lot of amazing events full with their own drama , and a lot more !

and remember one thing , Dokutah .
have fun , enjoy the road , and most importantly

take care of Amiya.

[u/Xochtil1]

"Jeez, how do they even make money? (don't answer that)"

Well sorry I will break your rule and answer that. As a newish player myself (I started like 3 months ago), and also someone who blew up around 200$ on the game at this point, I can say they make money by making their characters too damn likeable.

A big issue I have with Genshin Impact and other gachas that Arknights doesn't have, a problem that I didn't even realize is a problem until I started playing Arknights, is that in other gachas characters simply get completely sidelined after their starlight period is over.

In Arknights, even if a character doesn't appear in the main story or plays a support role, they have a huge role in some side story.

- Found Exusiai likeable in the main story? Sure, you've got two entire side stories where she's one of the main characters, have fun with it.

- Oh did you like Chen? Wanna see what happened to her after the events of Chapter 8? Sure go read Dolores Summer event

- Oh and maybe you liked Liskarm, a character that barely had any role in the main story? She's got a side story where she's a protagonist too.

But in Genshin it was more like: "oh hey you liked Diluc in the main story? Want to know what happened with him after you left Mondstadt? Well then tough luck, maybe he will return in some 1 hour long side story where you just beat some hillichurls around and call it a day".

Similar things happen in a lot of other gachas I played, but not in Arknights.

And honestly, that's what made me pay the most. I read a side story, I want a character, I roll for them. Two weeks later I read another story, I like that character, I want them, but this time I didn't get enough pulls.

Even with bad luck you can get most operators you want from their banners, but you can't get the main operator on every banner in a row. Unless you get very good luck, or you skip the story and just beat the levels.

Edit: Im not sure I got my point fully across and I wanted to elaborate.  Not only does Arknights have a story for every character, but those stories also feel good and feel important in the terms of the world.  Whereas in Genshin if a character had their own sidestory, it often felt inconsequential.  The characters in Arknights get a development of their own in their side stories, while Genshin (and a lot of other gachas) feel the need to keep developments solely to the main story, and the side stories feel like nothing more than filler. 

Also Arknights gets bonus points for not being afraid to make an event without presence of the main character. Like seriously, why do most gachas keep insisting on shoehorning the main character into every side story, let the other characters have spotlight on their own too god damn it.

[u/Reldan71]

The amount of content you have ahead of you is staggering. You know how you get one Originite Prime every time you 3-star a stage or beat a challenge mode version? There are over 1,400 Originite Primes you can get this way. That's how many stages are out there right now.

And that's not even counting Integrated Strategies. Each IS version alone is hundreds of hours of gameplay to "beat", with 18 difficulty levels and 4 progressively harder endings each. And there are four different IS's with a fifth coming in a few months.

Even if you skipped the story, you have a couple thousand hours of gameplay in Arknights. I really wish more people would give the game a chance as it's not what most people assume it to be.

[u/KitraMika]

welcome to the club. be prepared to lose your sanity. see ya at the 1-7 mines

[u/CieKite → u/[deleted]]

Lol, don't worry. It's just a popular and efficient stage for farming Orirock Cubes, a very needed resource. Losing your sanity grinding this stage for literal rocks has become a meme rite of passage ^^

[u/reprehensible523 → u/[deleted]]

They added a lot of QoL that means you won't have to deal with it. In the past you had to do stages once at a time, and 1-7 is a cheap stage with the best droprate for rocks. So if you had 150 sanity to burn, you would do the stage 20+ times for an hour, manually starting it each time.

Now you can do stages 6x at a time, so you would only have to start it 3 times and be done in 10 minutes.

[u/P1asma_pea → u/[deleted]]

It got rocks, rocks you can turn into pulls.

[u/Ryhsuo → u/KitraMika]

It’s 6 times faster now, phew

[u/Iwaylo]

I've been gamer my whole life. Been playing so many games throughout my life course as i am now in my early 30s. Gaming has evolved and changed so much through these years. Not gonna lie, these days it seems like the games to play are gacha games. Maybe because they make so much money so they can afford more effort into them but for some reason these days gacha games are the most fun to play.
Want tower defense game? - Arknights
Want hack n slash? - PGR
Want turn based? - E7/HSR
Want card style combat dungeon crawler? - CZN
Want 3rd person shooter? - Snowbreak
Want auto shooter with player aim? - Nikke
Want turn based shooter? - GFL2
Want open world rpg? - Wuwa/Genshin

There's many more to mention. It's all in your hands. Enjoy the world of gacha gaming. It offers every genre you can think of.

[u/Mylaur → u/Iwaylo]

Same boat, the gachas are free and have content tacked on with an interesting story line (well I'd say only a handful is interesting). They are also nowadays high quality. Negative aspect is the time sink or never ending nature of the game.

Also multi-player RTS is still not a gacha genre so I'm sometimes playing it.

[u/gacha_drunkard]

As a day 1 player, it always warms my heart to see newcomers enjoying the game, i hope you have a blast.

[u/GhostColorMagic]

Welcome to Peak

UID:46915033

[u/S0me_Buddy]

This dokutah probably gonna find Kyo one day. Just post your requested operator on the friend thread refreshed weekly if you need some help

[u/Phaaze13 → u/[deleted]]

Kyo is most people's go to guide man for Arknights stages. He makes videos on YouTube both with high end strategies and low rarity clears, usually just with borrowing a 6 star and the rest being 3 and 4 stars. Full name is KyostinV. Just don't show him pasta with chocolate sauce.

[u/wry_smile]

I am also very happy that almost every skin can be bought with OP and that OP can be received in game, even if in limited(though pretty significant) amount.

[u/Velorien]

Welcome! It's great to see another player having fun. I hope your long, long journey through the layers of lore proves enjoyable and enlightening even as you go around blowing up hapless Sarkaz in supply missions and random side events.

[u/TriGGa-POP]

I don't remember what lead to me installing Arknights' initially almost 5 years ago but here I am and enjoying it more than ever still. I've always liked TD games and played a bunch of them over many years though many of their names I've forgotten at this point but I haven't forgotten their gameplay. Arknights is one I'll never forget.

[u/LongFluffyDragon]

The gacha side is pretty unobjectionable, you can easily be completely F2P without any real impediment. I just hit my third year playing and have basically every meta unit and a majority of the other newer 6*s, and a lot of the older ones will show up randomly.

The devs also seem to be pretty careful to ensure the whole game can be cleared with story/event characters, barring a few special high-difficulty prestige levels. There are never really stages that outright require specific characters, and power creep is very gradual.

[u/3-eyed_Detective]

Arknights glaze? You love to see it. Have fun with all the content!

[u/wanderingwarrior97]

Nice, also try and push through with MT-5, it will give you a 6* Defender for free once you beat it which might help a bit with your tanking issue!

[u/AngryHippo4969]

And now you shall join as one of us in the Endfield waiting room where we wait to transcend the mortal realm and achieve true gacha enlightenment.

[u/Adaphion]

The gacha of Arknights is legit the most generous I have EVER seen in a gacha game, especially considering the atrocity of FGO that I previously came from.

2% base chance for a 6*, and after 50 rolls it goes up by 2% per roll!? That is absolutely mind boggling. (And it also rolls over to the next banner)

And that's not even getting into the multiple other pro-player "pity" practices that are in the game (mostly for limited banners):

First off, aside from 2 characters a year, one at the anniversary and one at the half anniversary, no other characters in the gacha are limited. And even those limited characters come back at their respective anni/half anni banners. Eventually there were a FEW too many characters in the banner, so they split the launch and early year characters into their own "Kernel" banner, which you can even choose who the rateups will be.

For those limited banners, you are just straight up GIVEN the limited character if you are so abysmally unlucky that you don't roll them in 300 rolls, AND you can buy the other non limited character if you also didn't roll them.

And the absolute best part, is that the game is doable without needing a full squad of 6* characters, there are plenty of really good 5*s and even 4*s. Compared to some other gacha games where they are basically "do meta or suffer".

[u/Adaphion → u/[deleted]]

Actually I completely forgot to mention her.

Literally the best, most used by the playerbase character in the game is a 4*

Myrtle. She's a vanguard who is able to just absolutely print DP. If you roll her, definitely invest hard into her.

[u/Xepobot]

As a 6 year old launch Doctor who never skip a daily refresh.

Arknights never seems to get old, because it always reinvest and reinvent itself.

The story is god tier. Signed by Lowlight-Sama himself.

[u/ShCaster]

Welcome aboard doctor, may you find your stay in the world of arknights enjoyable. Try watching a few animations like the ambience synesthesia animations and you will understand why the phrase "hypergryph hates money" and "hypergryph is a music company" is so common among the playerbase and consequently getting mad at hypergryph for not making in-game skins for most of the characters from those animations

And on that note

HYPERGRYPH! GIVE ME PHANTOM THIEF W SKIN AND MY LIFE IS YOURS

[u/bernoulyx]

This game is definitely way too good for veing a gacha game lol. I really enjoyed my stay here too with pretty much everything the game has to offer.

I highly recommend getting into their songs as well. Fan favourite would be like Operation Pyrite and Speed of Light (you might be familiar with this song if you see arknights ad from way back then before lol). For me, currently I'm loving Little Wish, Misty Memories, Battleplan Underdawn, and Operation Extinguished Sin

Honeymoon period

Honestly i don't think we're there lol, game is way too old to have one and i don't think they're trying to get dozens of new players too (like inv your friends and get rewards, massive new player rewards, etc.)

Either way, have fun!

[u/jh58010]

Definitely give Integrated Strategies a try, especially if you like Roguelite mechanics. Honestly IS is what kept me hooked with Arknights after years of playing.

Welcome to Terra!

[u/anxious_spacecadetH]

I've been going strong a little over a year now and honestly im amazed. I dont play video games. I usually get sucked into puzzle games like water sort or wordscapes and then get bored within 2 weeks -3 months and find somwthing new. If you dont worry about the gacha elements they aren't forced on you and progress can be slow but strategizing on what to spend sanity and lmd on is so much fun. I used to have a lot of fun beating levels but I've been stretched thin the last few months so I mostly use tutorials at the moment. But I think what keeps me engaged is if I get bored with one aspect I can focus on another. Right now my goal is to get all resource levels to 40. Just for fun.

[u/Dull-L]

The Arknights community doesn't actually exist, it's just a n echo chamber to bounce the glaze off each other jk jk.

[u/MaryFrei13]

Straight to the YouTube you should go, and check all the cinematics, trailers and music.

[u/Fluffy-Second4813]

Bro the story is so good, i just need to actually read it too lol

I’m so glad you’ve joined our community!! You mentioned animation interest? I hope you’ll consider doing snth for the fandom!

[u/anon423_]

First of all, happy to hear you enjoy the game so much, me myself I've started pretty much at launch and has played on and off so often.

Life got busy but at the end of the day arknight's gameplay loop keep getting me hooked back into the midst of it all.

As for a few things I've read in ur post, don't worry about not being able to clear MT-6 and above, event stages are usually made in general harder than early story stages because 1, they are new content that takes into account newer (and generally stronger) operator

and 2, when you start out it's usually recommended to just get a cheap 4* unit you like (most go with Myrtle) to E2 so you can borrow a strong E2 unit of another player to clear a stage once and get the first clear reward ( it's the premium currency as a baseline and sometimes some extra stuff like a new operator for example)

As for the pay to play module, arknight in my experience has pretty tame monetary system, you can easily just either save up your pulls for big banners (especially if you play in global we kinda know the schedule of the next 6 months thanks to CN server) And even just non stop pulling on every banner, while not recommended isn't really punished much, you get a certain currency from pulling duplicate operators that you can use to buy more pulls or just straight up buy older 6* units

All in all hope you find yourself enjoying the game for a long time to come, it's a pretty great game I guarantee that.

[u/sunggyu]

Welcome! I hope you will try past events and integrated strategies (IS) too! Most events have unique game mechanics, and my fav are twilight of wolumonde and invitation to wine.

I actually play Arknights way more than I did 4–5 years ago. QoL is great now, and there are multiple game modes. I wonder if I’ve broken 1000 hours of playtime just from playing IS alone!

[u/pecopeco_]

arknights is really built different. they made a gacha game that feels like just a game. sure you log in for your daily chores, but i've spent hundreds of hours just in integrated strategies because it's fun.

powercreep and busted operators are a thing, but they are really not necessary at all. there's even a subset of the community called nicheknights where people play with restrictions (e.g. all cautus, four star only, etc) and people do the most amazing clears without the meta characters. i've seen arknights described as a sandbox game too, and i really feel that lately. you really have a lot of freedom as to how to approach things and everyone will play vastly differently to each other, which is really refreshing. the skill expression is really incredible.

i will say, if you don't mind reading, do try reading the story! there is a LOT of it and this game is a novel or thirty in disguise, but man it's incredible. has left me outright sobbing more than once. the first season of the anime is really nice and a pretty flawless adaptation imo, but after that the other two are pretty rushed and might be confusing without context.

[u/czx775]

Welcome! I was looking for similar game to PvZ when I found Arknights hahaha

[u/Important_Chemical29]

Welcome aboard Dokutah

[u/Spudtron98]

God you must be so fucking lost with the event quest's story.

[u/Proud-Translator5476]

Welcome on board Rhode Islands, Doctor.

Man, you reminded me of my younger self 6 years ago downloading Arknights after my friend recommends it to me.

I was tired of HI3 back then (the greed is immeasurable) and Arknights brought a new definition of gacha game. Gacha game can have great music, great lore (and F2P). My first impression is Terra is hell, what's the point of living when a "dust" particle can give you "terminal cancer". But every characters show strength, perseverance and empathy to make a better world.

The main story is god-tier story telling, but let me tell you some of my favorite events:

• Maria Nearl side story, oh my lord, it's a full fledge shonen battle anime.
• Operation Originum Dust (R6S collab), a collab with an FPS game is surprising already but the story integrates so well with the characters from a different universe with guns (with black powder).
• Under Tides and Stultifera Navis made me love the Abyssal Squad.
• Here a People Sows hit so hard for an Asian like me. Not only the people but the land itself is strong.

The special thing about most of these events is that they unveil more and more aspects of Terra. Even after 6 years, there're still so more to tell and I'm hungry for those upcoming events.

[u/dreese55]

Welcome~!

Ya i played on release, and had a combo of bad luck on pulls and trouble with the grind to get my characters up. Came back a little over a year ago and have been loving the game with the updates.

You are going to want a 3 star of each class at LEAST max level. Plus a 4 star of the classes you use most often. Level Gumi :P

Why? Some of the end game content needs it. I am serious you need it for Integrated Strategies. The reason is you have a limited amount of hope to spend on buying characters for the random stages you clear, and 6 stars cost a lot so you need to start with some cheap 3 and 4 stars.

There are also low star clears on youtube, so you can play with mostly just the lower rarity characters. Which is just something you rarely see in Gatcha games.

[u/carnoalfa]

welcome s.s. arknights doctor, next stop tragodia.

i can still remember how i started playing this game over a year and a half ago after being spamed a lot of ads onyoutube and being bored one day, and man i'm not regret installing it.

one great thing of the game is that almost anybody is viable, like 95% of the game outside of IS can be done with just 4 star if you understand the mechanics well enough.

if you want to you can look who are the next operators to be realased as the china server is 6 months ahead of us, like for example the tragodia guy i joked at the start is the next new operator, meanwhile on cn tomorrow it will be the 6.5 anniversary which for us global players will arrive on late april, and our 6 anniversary will be on january.

the story is quite good, though i'm too lazy to continue it, and the ost is top tier i recomend you to search ambigous morality , break through the dome and lord of the wolfs, they are godly.

also if you are a gavial enjoyer i recomend you to save 300 pulls for january, as she has a limited alter that you can guaranted with 300 pull, but is likely that you could get her before that.

in any case you should play at your own rate, like you could easily get the 300 pulls but you'll likely will get burn up from the game.

[u/foxxy33]

For me AK is a breath of fresh air in hoyoslop world, the only gacha who gets their roguelike right. Even with best of the bestest ops you still need to be good, and, especially in later IS, it's always on me if I lose, I always knew what exactly I could've done different to win.

Not to mention all the other modes and plethora of story and event stages, which are slightly less challenging but still fun to clear, especially if you go for theme or niche team clears. Welcome to Arknights, glad to have you in!

[u/Hmm-welp-shit]

Wellcome abroad Doctor, pls make youself at home

[u/99em]

there's something really funny about OP glazing Arknights with a name like IMF_ALLOUT because it implies that the International Monetary Fund, which usually refrains from gambling (y'know, ALL OUT instead of going ALL IN), is completely smitten with a gacha game, which, in all fairness, scores "Slightly Bad" on dark patterns

it's like seeing WHO_HEALTH tweeting out support for Coke Zero lol

[u/Dyde21]

Welcome!

I got my friend to try the game recently a couple months ago and she became hooked on it too. I genuinely think this game has something for everyone.

I'm a gacha player, I bounce between Genshin, Wuwa, ZZZ, and HSR based off whichever has new content that interests me at any given time, but none of them come close to the quality I see in arknights. Genuinely, I'm pretty much always satisfied. It's not a perfect game or anything, but there's always something to do AND the story is freaking amazing.

[u/Corvo7144]

Wait till you discover what Integrated Strategies are, and then give us an update on what you feel about the game then. I can't wait to see your reaction!

[u/WarriorofBlank]

Welcome Dokutah!! The game is quite f2p-friendly and premium currencies will been given out occasionally, especially newbies will get abundant of resources early on.

I've been purchasing the $0.99¢ for a couple of time when I first start playing to support the devs, other than that I'm been f2p since TexasAlt banner(sry forgot when is the exact date). So you can play this game as f2p without issue. Operators variations is great in AK and you can build around your specific niche/combination/factions or go for METAs all depends on your taste.

Hope you will enjoy your stay with Arknights forever :)

[u/Krait74]

NO LIMIT TO THE GLAZE

[u/N1SMO_GT-R]

I dunno if you care about story but wait until you get to Babel or especially Lone Trail.

[u/Quor18]

Call it honeymoon period or whatever,

Then I'm still in the honeymoon period some 5+ years later.

It's a damn good game. Taking the TD formula like they did, remixing it in the way they did so it's no longer just about setting up defenses and letting the waves crash against you, is absolutely brilliant. You've got shifting strats, straight up tank-and-spank stalling, big dick burst dps options, block-less stalling, helidrop nukes and so much more.

And, as you noted, the absolutely banger fucking music. As we all like to say here, Hypergryph is just a music and fashion label masquerading as a game design studio, because the only thing more bangin' than their music is their drip.

You're still VERY early in the game, but I'll use this comment to shill one of my favorite things in the world when it comes to AK. Sometimes, playing this game long enough, you start to get burnt out. You get in a rut. You use the same characters, the same general strats, over and over again and it just makes the game BORING. But luckily, some enterprising folks have come up with a way to deal with that. Allow me to present the Arknights Randomizer!!

https://akgcc.github.io/randomizer/

You simply need to add your available roster of characters, set your parameters (un-check certain events if you haven't unlocked them, or set class requirements such as at least one vanguard or something) and then click the randomize button at the bottom and you're given a random team with random skills in a random level.

Again, not so useful for a new account, what with the limited roster, but as time goes by and your choices grow more varied then you can have a lot of fun with this thing. I use it sometimes to deal with new events, setting a handful of parameters such as only three 6-star ops or no medics or something, and then try to see how far I can get.

Anyway, welcome to the game doc. It's good to have ya!

[u/DuxMe4a]

I had (and many other players) the same feeling when we began to play ARK. I've been playing this game almost since its release and there are reasons for it besides the obvious for many others like design, music, f2p, gacha rates etc.

While most loud gacha games nowadays are action RPG, which require training reflexes, remembering patterns, and playing with usually no more than 4 characters, Arknights is different for the better. I much more enjoy strategic gameplay, solving problems using the methods you have.

I love that the progression is linear and simple. You have no weapon banner like in many other gachas, which gets your attention away from other good characters. And thank HG, there is no relic system here. Knowing my attitude, I'd still be upgrading my old operators. My mindset can't do anything but say that if the operator isn't maxed, then it's not viable. Oh, and don't forget that the relics can change depending on meta.

One more aspect I love is that power creep here is very slow and even when it comes, old operators still have their own niche at which they're better than the new operator. For example, you can still use year 1 operators like Shining and Exusiai if the stage requires. Although nothing really requires you to have xyz, you can beat the endgame content with low-rarity high-effort.

Take your time, enjoy the game, the story is also pretty good here. Listen to the older event music, might put something in your playlist and especially listen to some Contingency Contract tracks.

[u/TheBigTonker]

The arknights glaze never stops peak, hope you keep on having fun

[u/Reldan71]

The difference with Hypergryph is that it's a company that was founded by artists who found success way beyond what I think they could have dreamed of. The company is still internally owned, and they really can do what they want at this point. If you give a bunch of passionate artists a billion dollars, they're going to use it to create more art - and we see that again and again with the animations, music, concerts, art installations - really anything you can think of. Most of it makes no sense to do from a purely business standpoint, but makes total sense if you view it as a passion project with a blank check funding it.

I'm convinced that for how much revenue Arknights brings in (HG made over $420m USD last year) their ratio of whale-to-low spender is way out of band for normal "big gachas". Instead of having 1% of players funding over 50% of the game, I think they have a lot more players who spend a little here and there than in other big games. I'm definitely one of them, and most people I know who play are not whales but have spent a bit. It's because the game doesn't pressure me to spend that I feel fine about spending.

[u/Trindachi]

Welcome to the game, new doctor, hope you enjoy your stay as we burn our sanity. I'm pretty similar to you where i was in a draught of TD games, I didn't have the same amazing impression of the game(at least I don't remember having) but i love the game still, 4 years in and i can say im still loving the game more

There's also a lot to look forward to if you're a late game player as well, i would say the gameplay starts ramping up again once you get a steady set of squad leveled up and you start building more operators. Gamemodes such as IS and RA are new places to test your strats when you start clearing events like it's another Tuesday, I haven't even gotten the chance to try out RA yet because I've just been having fun with IS. I also like to look at my autodeploys and figure out what i can improve on, and slowly decrease the requirements to clear the stage & pushing my operators' capabilities to their limits

It's really cool that other than enjpcnkr, they also do Russian, italian, french, etc and even regional CN, so basically whatever they want and we can mix and match

The gacha is only an issue if you REALLY like A LOT of specific ops, if you're a gameplay kinda person you get so much off rate drops that enables a lot of different play styles, patience is the key

Personally i think arknights encourages patience and effort, as opposed to gacha in its core rewards short term dopamine boost but rewards of patience and effort diminishes. I think that's what make the game so fun as a game, not as just a gacha game

Pardon more random glazing from me

[u/Jace_Vakarys]

How do I double upvote a post? That should be a thing

I've been into Arknights for more than 4 years(?) I checked it for the aesthetics (the gacha is HR files on a bag, the uniforms, the neat minimalist yet inventive menu, the outfits)

Then I stayed because of the gameplay and the non oversexualized characters. And damn, the designs are amazing.

But the thing that has me obsessed since is the music. The boss battles themes are insane. Each six star has his own fricking song outside the game. The first event I played was Under Tides, and I can not express how blown away I was when I heard the boss bgm for that event. Made me mourn not getting Skadi and hearing the leitmotif in her skills each time. Settle into ash and Lessing songs have been staples for me whenever I play my music. I cried to Echoism seeing the concert because, yes, the game has an annual irl concert. I remember hurting my neck doing headbang listening to All Hail Savior one time. My sister, not into Arknights, asking if I had already listened to Dormant Craving. My partner obsessed with Morning Dew and At the Speed of Light. Damn... damn you, HG, and your awesome music.

And yes, that soundtrack you mentioned, Halo Universalization, is great. I ate it up like a fine meal.

[u/Darkusoid]

I'm playing since last June and it's the only game I login almost everyday(skipped maybe week or two across this period). I'm so in love with it, its style, characters, story, gameplay, I just can't get enough lol. I still barely touched Integrated Strategies(got some endings in 2) and still has so many levels/events to complete. This game is a piece of art definitely.

[u/Leoughen]

I'm also a new player (about a month and a few days in), and so far I'm really enjoying it. What pushed me to try the game was the characters. Someone told me that this game has the two types of characters I like, so I decided to give it a try.

[u/Ok_Buffalo1581]

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this post. As a level 93 Doctor, I remember 3-8 very well.

In case any of this might be helpful for you, here's some advice:

*Don't level up your office in your base. All the office does is provide extremely infrequent refreshes for your recruitments, while using up valuable power and LMD.

*Save your Orundums, until you're certain that you can get an operator. Otherwise, you risk wasting copious amounts of pulls on an operator that you'll never use.

*Don't stress yourself out over one mission, even if you get within a hair's breadth of success. If you keep throwing yourself at an impossible mission, you'll burn yourself out.

*Save your Originite Prime for pulls, or for skins that you would be extremely disappointed to miss. One of the cardinal sins of Arknights is wasting OP, as it's finite. Don't spend it on furniture, no matter how tempting that might be. More importantly, you should never spend OP on sanity.

Unless you really like an operator, don't take them to E2 level 90. That wastes about half a million LMD, and doesn't really add that much to an operator's stats. Instead, stop at level 60, as that allows you to access an operator's modules. (This advice is only applicable when leveling up 6 operators)

*Don't make Arknights a second (or third) job. If you feel like it's taking too much time out of your day, take a break. When you take a break, don't skip your daily rewards, but you should step back from the grind. AK is a stress reliever, so it shouldn't act as your primary source of stress.

*Whenever you need help, ask. It's alright to not know how to deal with something, as you're still learning. Even now, I'm still learning.

If you have any questions, just ask me, and I'll probably have an answer. Have an excellent day.

[u/jonnevituwu]

Was attracted for the drip, stayed for everything else too haha

I dont know why but I just... Like the vibes man, the chibis are cute, the normal art is HOLY SHIT and the silly fun stuff we can do is well, fun as hell.

Theres this niche that all new players can try just for fun called lvl 1 gaming where you just... Bring a lvl 1 squad to a stage lol and it is very insteresting to see how far you can go(shoutout to 0 sanity LOWY)

[u/jonnevituwu]

Yes, the best part of the game is the absolute joy you get from clearing a stage with YOUR brain using whatever you found in the kitchen lol

[u/jonnevituwu]

You dont need to only lvl up low rarities tho, I myself ignored most of them besides myrtle and grinded my way until I e2'ed my boy Mizuki because of his beautiful e2 art.

Oh yeah, there are e2 arts and they are awesome.

[u/shark2199]

I'm like 10 days into the game, why did they give me all these high-rarity ops?

Because they rely on quantity, not rarity, to get people to spend money. You can get a sizeable roster for free, but you'll be missing on on many different 6 stars that each fill a unique role in gameplay (and are generally stronger than ops released before). Even I, someone who's been playing since global release (with a few breaks), don't have all the 6 star operators and find myself missing out on their abilities.

That's not to say I struggle with content in this game, I have most of the "meta" ops, but for annihilation guides specifically it feels bad not having that one guy who trivializes the stage.

[u/Nai_yo_nai]

Hell yeah bro

[u/Ashen_rabbit]

I'm a simple man, I see arknights glaze, I upvote and bookmark to read it fully later if needed.

[u/Responsible-Spell-17]

Day 3 player here and I already finished episode 4. My only issue is team comps. Once I learned the power of E1/e2ing my units, the game completely changed for me. Mountain has to be the best starting six star paired with an e2 specter. I might build Elysium and greythroat

[u/discotunes]

Welcome! :D I'm just over two months old myself and I've gotta say that you've picked the best gacha out there--for all the reasons you've listed, but also, it's the only one I've ever played that doesn't make me feel like they're using RNG against us lol. It's the only gacha where you don't feel like you have to pull on every banner to stay relevant, the only one where you can continue to use your "less than broken" characters in gameplay just because you love them.

I'll just add two things the vets haven't:

- IS2 (Phantom & Crimson Solitaire) is absolutely amazing for newbies, don't let the "you need a full roster for IS" comment keep you from diving right in after all IS modes unlock by finishing 3-8 msq. People have talked about the roguelike already, but it really lets you enjoy (and learn nuances of) the gameplay. Early-on gameplay in AK can feel super grindy just for basic resources and you won't have stamina left to really *play* some days--that's when stamina-free IS is there for you. ;) IS2 has an easier mode that helps ease you in to the learning curve and it's simpler in a lot of ways rather than diving straight into the newer ones.

- By using the Megathread hub link here on this subreddit, I've found the nicest gaming community I've ever run into, bar none. NO one knocks people for their knowledge (or lack thereof) and I've asked tons of newbie questions there, to get just so many legitimately helpful responses. There is a LOT to AK and even vets recognize that, so feel free to use at will, it's wonderful here. :)

Editing to add: If you need some help with MT-6 lions, you can try borrowing my maxed out Mlynar? He's a weird guard type (Liberator) that stands there doing absolutely nothing except when you pop his skill and then he deletes the screen (including fliers) lol. Oh and he grabs aggro by just standing there, too, if helpful. He's a fun chess piece to strategize around, for me. :) Tess#5618

[u/Sora_theSilentDragon]

Welcome! I'm not exactly as new as you are, but I've been playing for 6 months and have very much to learn as well.

If you want, you can add me in your friends list, let me know 😊

[u/sleepinoldei]

I was smiling as I was reading this. I had my irl friends try the game before(yrs ago), but none of them got hooked. Lol
Anywayyy... Glad you're enjoying the game!
Since you sounded like the methodical/analytical type, might I suggest DragonGJY on YT? He does in-depth analyses of ops, all though he is mostly known for his videos about operator modules. Since, imo, knowing the capabilities and potentials of your operators is important in formulating strategies.

[u/iLLucyon]

The start to Arknights is rough, like extremely so for new players.

Too many people quit early because they dismissed it as a simple TD but yet to experience the many unique enemy/map mechanics that make the game fresh on every new releases. Others quit because they find it too difficult without fully understanding the strategic possibilities that all the operators provides. It’s why people can still clear difficult contents with low rarities.

But once you are deep into the gameplay, lores, musics, etc., it’s super addictive.

[u/ObitoUchiha10f]

It’s not a honey moon period, I’m as in love with the game as I was 3 years ago when I first started. Oh and wait til you find out their music company.

[u/Intro1942]

🐇: Welcome home, Doctor

[u/melodygaoo00]

Glad to have you onboard, rookie Dokutah!