ROLL THE BONES ~ GACHA IN (TRULY) FREE GAMES

Many freemium games have other more reliable ways of getting stuff, and then let players use these gacha systems as a way to augment their power beyond what they'd normally get, at the cost of dollars. In Age of Ishtaria (RPG where you collect an army of waifus) for example, you can draw waifus from the gacha, but every event also has at least one top-tier waifu you can earn through proper gameplay, and several lower-tier characters.

Final Fantasy Record Keeper, notably, essentially includes no methods at all of getting top-tier equipment other than the gacha machine. This is extremely irritating.

I think FFRK's method would translate very poorly to a truly free game. The player's inability to succeed purely through their own effort does not create compelling gameplay. The game is set up that way to intentionally frustrate them in order to get their cash. However, the method that Age of Ishtaria uses makes more sense to me in a free game - include lots of the same normal skill-based and grind-based methods of getting upgrades that are already present in all RPGs, and then let the player have the luck-based method on top to augment it. This changes the player's expectations of the system from "I need to roll well on this gacha system to do well at the game" to "If I get lucky at this gacha system I can skip doing work in a different part of the game."

A game that actually does this is Diablo 3. After beating the game at max level, the player can go into Adventure Mode where they earn a special currency (blood shards) by doing various randomized tasks. This special currency can be spent to buy random items. The player has some limited control over what type of item they're buying, but not over how good it is. The fact that everything else in Diablo 3 is also randomized helps this system feel right at home - it would perhaps be less welcome in a game that had less in common with roguelikes. I can't possibly imagine the system making much sense in a linear JRPG with linear upgrades.

I had planned something like this: You'd start the game and pick three classes of twenty to make up your party. After two or three dungeons you'd recruit a fourth character but the player couldn't choose who. The fourth character/class would be determined by RNG and the original party composition. Each class had a weight based on its intended role(s) and whatever roles the game felt were lacking would be more likely to be picked as your fourth class.

Thinking about it now if I stuck with it I'd probably pick three classes or so and let the player pick which one would be their fourth party member. Each potential class would be its own RNG, maybe two would try to pick a class to fit what the game things you're missing and the third would be weight so that it isn't a similar role as the first two classes to mix it up a bit. Have some RNG hijinx in party composition while still giving the player some input in who the fourth party member is.

Well, a simple way would be to have the "FF5 crystals" method, and have a job system that's gated by collectible objects that are distributed randomly. They would have to be unique, interesting, and balanced enough to not fall into power tiers, if that's even possible. Optionally, they could also act as secondary jobs/skillsets that could be equipped by characters alongside their pre-determined primary roles.

I think, like most randomized systems in semi-linear games, you'd probably want most of these random pulls to be side-grades rather than upgrades.

Here are some ideas:
- Class system starts with 6 classes, with a dozen or more additional unlockable classes. Each class has a number of abilities that can be unlocked by grinding AP. Two types of random pulls: one that unlocks a new job (for the cost of 5 premium currency), and one that gives you a free ability in a random job you've unlocked (for the cost of 1 premium currency). This would help get the player to try a lot of different jobs that they might not necessarily touch under normal circumstances.

- Gacha pulls that give you new sidequests, rather than direct rewards. The sidequests give rewards when completed. With this system it would not be necessary for the rewards to be sidegrades. I really like this idea, assuming the sidequests are JRPG style sidequests that are unique and meaningful and each have their own dungeon, not just "kill five vultures."

- Equipment augment system. The gacha system gives you random gems that can be inserted in your gear for various bonus effects. Functionally this isn't that different from how random item drops from enemies work in a lot of modern RPGs. In order to keep the gacha pull system relevant as the game goes on, perhaps allow them to be combined into higher-quality gems.

- In a JRPG where the player has a large number of characters but can only bring a few with them in battle, create a gacha pull system that gives the player a powerful weapon for one random character. Other non-gacha weapons would be somewhat weaker and also require a lot more effort to obtain. Give the player a free gacha pull at the end of each dungeon, and possibly allow them to grind for one or two more. Instead of the gacha system granting the same rewards throughout the game, it would get new stronger rewards after each dungeon. This would strongly encourage the player to use different characters, since they would have no way to control or predict who would get a bonus weapon in the next dungeon. However a player who was confident could hold onto their currency and then pull a bunch of weapons near the end of the game.

I just wanted to contribute. :<

But on a serious note, I feel that a gacha has to offer something better, or different, or be less frustrating, than what a crafting system could achieve for the same role. Just something to consider as we come up with a good gacha! and then I will steal the best ideas for my next game

The gacha sounds similar to random drops from a monster or chest. Instead of the paying the effort to defeat the monster/find the chest, the player pays a currency.

I'd put it into a game where random loot from chests make sense, like a dungeon crawler or rougelike. Chests would contain all categories of items, and the gacha shop would contain the same items and drop rates, but the player got to pick the category (swords, bows, armor, etc).