I play gacha games. Well, dozens of them. One of the games that introduced me in this genre is Guardian Tales. There are many popular gachas that came before but GT is one of the gacha games that runs properly on a potato phone. I think this game is one of the best introduction for those who never played gacha game before because this game is more generous than most gacha games out there. I admit that I quit this game twice (only because I keep on pulling for Alef then I realized that he is the weakest unique in the game). But when I opened my third account, I never skipped a day playing this game for more than a year now. I like this game for many reasons:
1. Many QoL updates since launch
They introduced sweep function that makes your grinding way easier. You can finish all the dailies in 10 minutes or less. You just need to unlock heavenhold base camp and level up. They also introduced party preset so you don't need to unequip and re-equip gears over and over again. You don't need to consume stamina to re-enter story stages; you only need stamina to unlock new stages. These QoL improvements are really important especially this game can be grindy in late game. Also, grinding doesn't feel like a chore and it respects your time.
2. The CONSISTENCY!!!
This is one of my important criteria in choosing gacha games, especially for a F2P (or maybe goldfish) like me. There are many gachas that are generous at first but then after days of playing, it's getting hard to obtain resources or currencies, especially gacha currencies. This game, however, is very generous and you can get free gems and stamina every day. It's really easy to obtain gems as long as you play coop and pvp contents at least once per week. Also, the story never fails to entertain me (or made me feel depressed). Anyway, the story is really good. Move on.
3. Good graphics and story presentation
Before playing GT, I played (and still playing) Stardew Valley which is one of my favorite games because of many easter eggs and attention to detail. These are the things that made me fell in love in GT as well. In this time when AAA games are the most popular, I think that pixel games like GT shouldn't be associated with being old and low quality especially if the devs put so much effort into it. GT is one of those unique gacha games in play store because of how they present the story. Basically, it's "show, not tell" storytelling. One thing that most gacha games and even some AAA games don't have is the facial expressions of the characters. The characters are static PNGs and they flash huge amount of texts in the screen that you forget that you are playing a game. GT solves this problem by constantly expressing emotion, moving, or doing actions. By doing so, they don't need a bunch of texts explaining what was going on, what are the characters doing (while showing their poker faces), and what they are feeling at the moment. Also, the soundtracks are enough to create the right atmosphere for each world. Even some simple melodies can make you cry (Little Princess OST). And I think GT intentionally use pixel graphics so that they will present dark themes for the younger audiences (you know if you know).
4. Story
Yes, I already mentioned the story in the last paragraph but whatever 🤣. To put it simply, this is one of the best story in a gacha game so far. At first, it looks like Zelda but after many chapters, you will realized that this game is agold mine of pop culture references. From Pokemon to Star Wars to Covid-19, they have it. I also want to add that this game has a very deep history already because the story of GT starts 500 years after the timeline of Dungeon Link, a game previously made by GT's dev team.
5. Gacha
The gacha is fair in my opinion. My gacha experience is sometimes very lucky and sometimes my pulls are drier than desert. But I didn't get really salty because gems are easily obtainable. Plus, the mileage shop is the best thing in this game. By pulling, you can obtain mileage tickets that you can buy with any hero or weapon you want. It doesn't reset so you can save as much as you want until you want to spend it.
6. Characters
Most unique characters (highest rarity) are female but each of them have different attributes and personalities so they are easily distinguishable. I just love that most characters have some kind of mental health issues but they are fun to play especially when you see their different expressions (like the thumbnail)
7. Best customer support
The devs are loved by the community because they actually listen to players' criticisms. Not only that, they can retrieve an item that accidentally bought and pay it back. In my case, there is a bug that the free summon event ends earlier than usual server maintenance. I asked the customer support and in return, they gave me summon controllers equal to the amount of the lost free pulls. Controllers are better because you can store it as long as you don't pull for units or weapons. Also, the GMs role-playing in their own characters is one of those little things that makes your experience more wholesome and fun.
Overall:
Just play this game. You won't be disappointed.