For lack of anything better to do, I’m going to start 2023’s posting season with a round up of the gacha games that kept me busy last year. Let’s kick things off with Princess Connect! Re: Dive, a game I keep coming to like a bad habit even though it’s not very interesting. I have tried and failed to figure out what I see in it, but at this point I must simply concede that it has a certain je ne sais quoi. That unknown factor isn’t enough to stop me from dropping it from the third time, though.
As for why I’m dropping it again, it’s the same old issue: I’ve been stuck on a roadblock boss for a while and I’m bored with not making any progress. That said, I did get quite a lot done in this most recent run from around December till today. I pulled NY Karyl and Neneka, and they made a tremendous and immediate difference to the strength of my party, unlike a certain overhyped Summer Saren. I was able to progress easily through several stages I hadn’t before, climb about 30 levels of the Tower of Luna compared to the previous time and actually make some contributions to Clan Battle.
I also geared up a large number of troops up to Rank 11 or 12. In addition to my staple party of Nozomi, Yukari, Summer Saren, Neneka and NY Karyl, I also built: Muimi, Jun, Grea, Miyako, Yui, Misato, Monika, Djeeta, Pecorinne, Kokkoro, Eriko, Shiori, Kaori and one or two others. I’ve taken my main team as far as I can with gear. I need to build a few of the very commonly used ones like Miyako and Muimi a little further, but I mainly need to get my levels higher and closer to the bosses I’ve been fighting. At present I’m at level 104 versus level 122-ish bosses, which is a bit steep even with the perfect party.
Yeah… that sounds like work, so it’s better for me to drop it for now and return whenever the urge strikes me again. The nice things about Princess Connect is that it will save a certain amount of stamina (a month’s worth?) for me if I ever want to jump back in again. I might time it with the next time they give out free pulls, but dupes aren’t very valuable in Priconne so maybe not.
Anyway, that’s it for the update on Princess Connect. I don’t read the story so I’m not invested in the characters, so I’m really really confused why I keep playing it. Hopefully the quitting will stick this time and I can stop disturbing readers with this game. Right now it looks like I just trot it out every couple of months to trash it, which isn’t true at all. The era when I played bad games out of morbid curiosity is well and truly over. Aight, enough typing for one day. Time for a well-deserved nap.
I enjoyed how you described Princess Connect! Re: Dive as a “bad habit” you keep returning to, because that really captures the weird pull of the game. The part about finally making progress after pulling NY Karyl and Neneka felt very relatable, especially compared with the disappointment around Summer Saren and getting stuck on that roadblock boss.
I totally get that “je ne sais quoi” feeling with Princess Connect—it’s weirdly addictive even when you’re stuck. Funny you mention Summer Saren being overhyped; I had the same experience, but NY Karyl really does carry teams. Hope that roadblock boss finally gives way for you.
Ha, I totally relate to the “bad habit” comparison with PriConne — I’ve dropped and picked it back up more times than I can count too. It’s funny how NY Karyl and Neneka ended up being the real game-changers for your party while Summer Saren didn’t live up to the hype. Hopefully you can push past that roadblock boss if/when you come back for round four!