As a quick note to those who may be unfamiliar, the vast majority of games from Japan/Korea especially are gacha games, which is really thinly veiled gambling. You buy/earn premium currency (usually referred to as "orbs", "gems", etc) to roll for the chance of winning a rare character/item/whatever. Some games do incorporate this fine by giving you lots of free premium currency and making content accessible to everyone, but others...well.
Anyways, as of right now, here's my current list of games. Feel free to talk about your own and/or discuss any games already mentioned!
Fire Emblem Heroes
Type: FTP w/ Gacha
As someone who grew up playing Fire Emblem and has gone through all of the games, FEH has a special place in my heart...but mostly just as someone who wants to collect her favourite characters. I honestly feel like the main story is kind of eh, but this game really has some lovely character art and there's like a billion things/events that you can do depending on your play style.
I find that FEH is also actually super generous with giving you free premium currency, and the rate of getting the rarest types of characters is pretty high for a gacha game (usually 3% to start, but it actually increases if you roll without getting a 5* unit + they recently added that you get to choose any new 5* character after 40 pulls). No money needs to go into this game to get through any of the content either. This has been my casual little game to play ever since it's release, and I'll pop in just to collect free rewards and play a little on days that I'm bored.
I've been logging in and playing daily right now though in preparation for the upcoming brave units that should be this month though. +10 Brave Dimitri, let's go--
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Tales of Crestoria
Type: FTP w/ Gacha
This one just came out last month, and it's still a little glitchy as it tries to find its footing. It's a game based on the "Tales of" franchise, and so it it's like FEH in that it includes all of the main characters from the mothership titles on top of adding more via events/gacha. It's got a lot of things to do given that it's new, and so far premium currency has been pretty generous + gacha rates are ~5% if memory serves me correctly (but unlike FEH, the percent never rises and there's no guaranteed pick yet). So far though, everything seems pretty easy to get through as a ftp player.
I think the highlight of this game is actually the story, which is a bit of a surprise. It's not the most amazing story ever, but it's very "Tales of" and probably one of the best of the mobile games I've played (which has been a lot) in that there's full voice acting, anime-styled cutscenes, interesting characters, etc. You don't need to know anything about prior games/characters to jump in either, which is a great bonus.
...And then there are a lot of others I've briefly dabbled in (Twisted Wonderland is a hugely popular one right now, Animal Crossing Pocket Camp, a handful of rhythm games, etc) but that are no longer on my phone. B')Fate/Grand Order
Type: FTP w/ Gacha
I knew very little to nothing of the Fate series when I started this game, and...I dunno. The character art in this game is lovely, and the story seems to be...on par for most mobile games? But this game definitely feels like one where the gacha system really wants your money. They aren't very generous with free premium currency, and the rates make me wince (1% rate for 5*s...and again, unlike FEH, the percentage doesn't increase with failed rolls). I'm not sure why I still have this on my phone.
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Hypnosis Mic A.R.B
Type: FTP w/ Gacha
Sometimes I like to dabble in rhythm games. Hypmic was (and still is) HUGE when I was in Japan last year, probably because it's a diversion from the typical Japanese idol series (in that all the characters are adults and it's rap music). It's grown to the point where I think there are like 4 manga series running at the same time, an upcoming anime, and...this game.
...It's...a rhythm game, so there isn't a ton to say about it LOL. I don't read Japanese so I can't say much on the story (though the story of the actual series is absurd and crazy), but it's fun enough. I'm not sure what the gacha rates are, but you really don't need super fancy cards to get through anything.
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Nobodies
Type: FTP w/ option to pay to remove ads
The only non-gacha game currently on my phone LOL. I downloaded it on a whim while waiting for Crestoria to come out. It's a point-and-click adventure game where you play a "cleaner" who has to find a way to clean up murder scenes without leaving any evidence behind. It's been a fun time killer, but there's not much in terms of plot or anything.