It is glorified gambling.

Gacha mechanics are a plague on video games. Truly dystopian shit. But not all gacha games are that bad. Just most of them. Genshin is basically just breath of the wild but more jank.

I hate Gacha games with a passion. I also really dislike the oversexualized artstyle. But from what I can tell both actually have very interesting gameplay elements. But that makes it worse if actual good games get ruined by gacha bs.

As someone who has played several of these (including HSR), the games themselves can be very good, but it's always despite its gacha mechanics, not because of it. It should be obvious that gacha is a predatory monetization model that has unfortunately seen great success.

This has led to gacha games often leading the mobile market in terms of quality, marketing and development. I'd much prefer it if more games were sold for a one-time fee or even a subscription model for live-service games, but these types of games will continue to be rare in the mobile market due to the profitability of gacha.

On the positive side, most gacha games allow even f2p (free-to-play) players to keep up with the story and events. Many players even find playing these games as an f2p player more enjoyable because of the challenge. So for those who have self-control, I don't think they should be discouraged from at least trying these games.

I played Genshin Impact up until I explored the world and beat a couple of bosses. As soon as it asks me to grind dungeons and pulls I dipped out. Gacha games suck, it's always a massive time (or money) sink where you get almost nothing in return. Sure, I could spend a month grinding for that legendary character. Then what? I'll beat one DPS check before getting stuck again and having to grind for the next thing. It's surprising how many people pay money in these games and don't realize how pointless it is. It's just not enforceable, and the EU knows that, which is why they're so stressed out trying to figure out a reasonable law regarding AI.

I don't play Gacha games, or even any kind of loot box games, because I personally feel they're gambling. I don't want to pay $5 for 500 fake digital bucks and if I spend $10 I'll get 1200 fake digital bucks instead, but I need 1250 fake digital bucks to buy that item and they don't sell them in 50 fake buck increments. The entire system is designed to get you to just spend spend spend. Not for me. Feel free to do what you wish with your money though. That games I've heard are very fun though.

Genshin was always fun for me even without spending money.

I largely don't care for gacha outside of Genshin, and to be frank I more tolerate it in Genshin because I enjoy the underlying game.

Free to play + pay to win (F2P/P2W) games were something I really enjoyed as a teen, but now it just feels like some company has been given ownership of some of your mind.

The company can just alter your progress at any time however they want.

I appreciate that they're something I can play casually. When my kid was first born, I need something to do for a couple hours between feedings, and Genshin was great for that.

But there's definitely some things that I hate about them. Characters 'disappearing' after their story area is done sucks. Old characters not getting buffs/nerfs sucks. And the predatory nature of the games, where it feels like players are fighting the devs for resources, sucks.