I liked so much i spent my free friday playing it, it really feels like gacha Front Mission, which turns out isn't a coincidence because the game literally was supposed tobe gacha front mission until squarenix changed their minds and the chinese devs released anyway. Some mechs are clear ripoffs.
It starts simple but quickly escalates as you get new passives via ascensions and better pilots and look at mecha set bonuses. Pilots can use only 1 out of 3 mech sizes and i have classes (melee, raider, sniper, launcher, healer, tank i think?) but there is variation within those classes. Attacks cost action points and you start with only 3/5 then +2 per turn and +1 per kill. You lose the arm you lose the gun unless it's two handed but then you're half blind.
(this mech is much more anime than others)
Light mechs have 4 move and better dodge but are frail, mid have 3 move and more balanced and heavy are what you expect but i heard they're bad. This means you can have a light mech raider who is mobile or a more defensive one. Pilots are also mostly locked to certain weapons that have some strenghts and weakness. A minigun is strong but heavy, while a knuckle is weak but lightweight. You can equip a backpack or shoulder stuff if you can afford weight.
The main campaign is also surprisingly hardy but i think it's because i'm "rushing" with bad units. The starter units you get are all really bad other than the sniper girl because aiming individual parts is always clutch, Thefree healer is so bad his passive is literally "-200 weight when holding minigun" which is thrash. Despite giving him an A rank upgraded medium mech he dies fast.
I took the rookie reroll banner and took the shotgun dps girl (frida) and even at low invest she is on another level because her first offensive skill is strong (higher dmg + crit + hit rate + bypasses tank cover). I rolled the current banner unit Silvie (had no idea what she did) and her passive is "if you have light rifle and 1h shield you can aim parts for free" meaning you get aimed shots for only 1 action point AND she can use unspent movement after attacking. Her first ascension gives extra attack on part break so you can easily snipe 3 parts off with only 3 points and run away for free. Apparently she's not op late game but this type of playstyle is always fun. S rank units also get 123% mecha bonus on top of their good stats so they scale much better. Getting dupes increases it for everyone but higher rank has higher base.
The extra attack thing feels like the real meat of the gameplay because once i started doing it with the MC and Silvie i realize that is the right way to play the game. You're supposed to manage your action points and try to do as many triple breaks/kill as possible. I assume this is why heavy mechs are bad, the game is clearly offensive biased and even the material farm requires you to move foward mowing enemies for a high score.
Mecha are their own gacha and i kinda hate it cause it feels like honkai 3 but worse. I can do a 10 pull and get a full A rank mech or a single A rank piece which is retarded, same thing with the banner mech. The hard pity apparently increases after the first S rank mech you get (start at 80 then 120 then 160 wtf) which makes it feel garbo already, i got no S rank mech yet. Mechs have things like each piece gives a level of a passive that gets stronger when stacked, but also small things like how Silvie's mech has assimetrical arms (the sniper arm is stronger while the shield arm is tankier).
But the reason i'm struggling is cause i
literally can't increase my level cap until tomorrow because there is a limit to how much account exp you can get per day. There is a seven day login event that gives you two good early units but i don't want to wait that man, i want to play nooow. Another system that unlocks goals and rewards across 2 weeks of playing which i find absurd lol. Apparently this becomes a legit annoyance later on as players literally cant progress and have to waste weeks leveling their account.
Which would be fine i guess, but alas, it's fucking weird in a strategy war mecha rpg. This could've been a good single player game, but i already fear the gachaness becoming a chore. The weapon grind is annoying as fuck too as you have to kill these annoying boss tier enemies (at least for my current team). There is auto battle but it's kinda suicidal.
Not that the story is particularly good. It feels like a front mission mishmash of cliches but more chinese. The MC is a merc who joins an army that is in a long conflict with another nation, but then there was a traitor and killed someone dear to him, we get time skip and the mc is now a wanted merc leading his own team. I seen this before but there is no develop on these nations or why they're fighting (i even read everything ok), they just are.
I also find bizarre but predictable that the game is aping FM and trying to be "realistic war" but you have these chinese waifus and anime bullshit mechas that do spining akimbo bullet time that would never fly in Front Mission but need to exist because gacha.
Their designs are still fairly tasteful by gacha standards (for now i guess) but the men are serious, muscular, manly, bearded, old etc so they standout. On chinese server that is a year ahead they had an evangelion crossover (ofc) so you can have asuka and rei in your serious war strategy game.
. Not sure I have enough res shred for him to carry.
(this mech is much more anime than others)
