Star Ocean: Anamnesis: The gacha that finally gets things right

This is just some observation gained over a few days of playing here but I thought I’d share how it’s only taken me a few days of learning the ropes to feel that, out of all the gachas I’ve had a chance to play, Star Ocean: Anamnesis does so many things right that are flat out missing from other games. Things like:

• Stamina: seeing this in a game tends to make me quit immediately but SOA has a really clever stamina system. Only the host of a multiplayer match uses stamina so players who don’t, or can’t, invest in stamina refills can continue to play the game if they wish. There’s no limit to the amount of missions you can do outside of not finding a lobby which is insane. No other gacha I know of lets players continue to play at their leisure! This makes collecting items in events far less stressful since you don’t need to heavily invest in currency to obtain everything in a timely manner or continuously check in on the game over the course of two weeks to obtain important items
• Multiplayer: There’s actual, real multiplayer here where you need to tackle bosses together in a movement based combat area. It’s not just static arena fights against AI or “bring your friend!” stuff. It’s legitimate multiplayer that requires you to actually heal, dodge attacks, build up combos, use your Rush attacks in proper order etc. Even better, the host is nicely rewarded for their hosting and stamina expenditure so players are actually encouraged to share their stamina with other players. This means whales and people spending gems/tickets on refills enable other players to keep playing while also boosting their own reward take. It’s win/win for everyone.
• Combat: It’s pretty simple auto combat stuff right now but, like I mentioned above, when the fights are tough you have to pay attention. This isn’t just menu tapping like other games, there’s some skill and timing involved. Combat also looks fantastic. It’s genuinely fun to tackle tougher fights.
• Generosity: Seriously, right out the door the devs have given us a huge head start. The game just keeps throwing stuff out there for you. I can see coming up on a gem and Fol pinch later maybe but right now the game has prepped players well enough to remain invested for a loooooong time yet. Also that 5% gacha rate is unheard of (Okay some people may disagree with this but plenty of the more successful gachas out there don’t have very high rates. So I’d still consider this better than many other games, especially because you’re not required to get multiples of characters to improve them.). The rates make obtaining useful characters at least within the realm of possibility without bankruptcy. Add to that tickets which let you pick your own rewards instead of opting for terrible RNG and you’ve got a winner.
• Power Creep: Looking at the JP tier list a lot of starter units have been outclassed but are still very useful. As long as this holds true for NA this is great since it means you can remain invested in the game without worrying about destroying your bank account every month as the creep becomes unmanageable.
• The Storefront: You can buy everything you need for enhancements! And it’s not disgustingly expensive! This flies in the face of games like Exvius which require huge time investment, RNG, and stamina expenditure to collect the items needed to enhance units.

Overall I’m really impressed and hope things remain this way. I do have some nitpicks like a typically awful story (Coro is the worst), some connection issues (it’s not me. I’ve got a solid 150Mb/s 5G connection), no automatic Rush usage in Auto, the transmute bug, the length of time the game hangs if a player has a poor connection in multiplayer, you can only play one a single device, etc. but they’re things I’m sure Tri-Ace will work on. And even if they don’t they’re not deal breakers.

Hope everyone else is enjoying the game just as much!