Well, it’s been a while again, huh? Just take a guess where I’ve been or what I’ve been doing all this time. Correct, I pretty much lost my myself (and my money) in gacha games. Two specific ones to be more precise.
But as always, let’s organize this post a bit and start with some basic information. Like what are gacha games?
Some of you might not know what it is, even though you might have heard about some titles that fall into this category. Let’s take Kantai Collection from back in the day, for example, or Azur Lane. Then there’s Fate/Grand Order, Arknights and as of recently, Genshin Impact. All vastly different games you might say, but all of them involve some special lottery kind of feature where you can spend in-game currencies in order to receive some mostly random item or character. While these games are usually free, you can spend money to get more of these in-game currencies, which in return will enable you to get more “pulls” or draws from the lottery system.
For some, these kinds of games are hated, especially for the gacha aspect, as it baits people into spending money and basically means that those who do will have an easier time playing it. In addition to that, in many of those games, the price for even receiving a little bit of that currency is just ridiculously high. You can basically spend hundreds of bucks, and in the end, end up getting close to nothing. Trust me, I speak from experience, unfortunately…
On the other hand, while the games might bait you into spending money, you never have to. Usually, these games are completely free to get and free to play. Furthermore, seeing the sheer quality of some of the titles, it might seem ridiculous that you can even get them for free in the first place. Take Genshin Impact for example. It’s basically a AAA game that’s gorgeous to look at, with a huge open-world to explore, some seriously amazing gameplay, and basically the best graphics you can get for a mobile game right now. Add in the fact that this one, as well as some others, are cross-platform titles, you can enjoy playing no matter where you are and how you prefer.
I myself have started small with gacha games, when many years ago I first lost myself in the “naval war ship-girl waifu collector” Kantai Collection. Over the years, I moved on to Azur Lane, which is basically a copy of Kantai Collection with a different fighting system, and in late 2020, I ended up finding the two games I basically play (or more like live off) right now. One of them is the earlier mentioned Genshin Impact, which is basically an anime-style Breath of the Wild kind of open-world gacha, and the other one is Arknights, an anime-style Tower Defense gacha. While both of them are vastly different from another, there is one thing outside of the gacha aspect that both of them feature and that is apparently a big, big necessity in games for me: collectable anime waifus. Lots of them, to be more precise.
And this is where we can finally reach the actual subject of this whole post: the yuri potential of gacha games.
Some might say any, or well, most, games that feature female characters have at least some yuri potential, and you’re not wrong. However, it is a fact that for these games specifically, even without any confirmed pairings, the yuri shipping that is happening online right now is simply huge. Go on Twitter, Tumblr, look for fanfiction, or simply go to our trusty Dynasty Reader and check the image section. What you find will probably be very similar on any of these platforms. I’m talking about tons and tons of fanworks about so, so many of the ships from said games. I would even go as far as to claim that even if you don’t play these games, or games in general, you’ve probably seen the pairings and know where they’re from. Because, let’s face it, if it isn’t the sheer quantity of works, it might as well be that some of your favorite artists have picked pairings up and released their own fanworks.
I’m talking about artists like Color_LES, who brought us Mage and Demon Queen, or how about Negom, known for her Pretty Cure doujinshi. Both of them seem to be deeply in love with pairings like Keqing x Ganyu, and I can’t blame them.
The bottom line is that, even though there are more (gayer) games out, titles like Genshin Impact or Arknights seem to receive more recognition from the community. With little to no confirmed yuri pairings, one might ask why that is, and I’ve come up with some possible explanations why gacha games in particular have such a high yuri potential.
For one, the money companies behind those games generate, mostly comes from the characters in the game, or more precisely, from adding new characters to the lottery for people to pull. The more interesting the character, the higher the chance people will spend actual money to make sure to get them. Adding more characters usually would equal more money made. But only adding random characters probably won’t generate the highest amount possible, so in addition to adding characters, they would have to make sure to make them look good, sound good, “feel” good and have some appealing personalities and backstories. More diversity probably equals satisfying a larger amount of tastes, or let’s call it preferences. So every game will have some tsundere characters, same with lolis, and pretty much any other stereotype you can think of. That, however, also means that some characters might end up showing hints of interest for other female characters. After all, diversity is key, and these are games that are mostly targeted at a male audience anyway, so yuri subtext and a high amount of female options is pretty much the norm in many gacha games.
Using the gacha logic here, the more characters available, the higher the chances of yuri or yuri subtext, same as the more money spent equals higher chances of getting something good.
Having said that, I of course have also fallen victim to these games, and on my quest to get all the yuri couples to join my team, I too spend way more money then I should have. While I have been quite lucky in Arknights, Genshin Impact keeps denying me that one character that I’ve been wanting from the very beginning, and it’s been driving me crazy. So despite the fact that I pretty much called these games yuri gold mines, I do think that you should enjoy them with caution. Patience is a virtue I’ve never quite mastered, so it’s almost laughable that I’m now trying to preach it to you guys. However, I do believe that you should learn from my mistakes, and I have to tell you that spending money to get more characters is usually not worth it. Yet, I’m a hypocrite, so take that however you want. 😀
Knowing both the risks and also the good aspects of it all, is it still worth investing your time in those games?
In my eyes, what a surprise, it’s a big yes. Even outside the gacha, these games just scream quality, and even after having played them for months, the constant updates and events happening ensure that you can pretty much play them daily without getting bored. So if you’re on the hunt for a good new game to keep you occupied during all these lock-downs and whatnot, or if you either have endless amounts of money or simply a stronger will to keep it in your wallet than me, then I would absolutely recommend these to you to try out.
Now if you’ll you excuse me, I’ll have to log into Genshin Impact to pull for Jean…
Also, this is not a paid advertisement. I’m getting nothing from praising these games as much as I do, other then the burning desire to spend more money in them. 😛
YuriReviews and More 
Let’s not forget Honkai Impact 3rd, from the makers of Genshin Impact. It’s also a Gacha but with confirmed Yuri couples. Mei and Kiana for one, but there are others too.
LikeLiked by 1 person
It’s on my list but I fear that it will drain my wallet as well and that thought is scary right now 😀
LikeLiked by 1 person
HI LENA!!!
Good to hear from you again! I also have been stuck in the Genshin loop for a few months now, the game is super fun and I enjoy the story and the world a lot. My luck in it has been surprisingly good lol but now I’m saving up for Ayaka! Hopefully she comes home lol!
Of course the the yuri ships are cute! Keqing x Ganyu (best Genshin ship atm imo), Jean x Lisa (super cute head of the knights along with her cute librarian girl friend) , Ningguang x Beidou (rich business woman x pirate), heck Traveler x any of the girls is also cute, the list goes on and on. More ships will definitely end up arriving with more characters and my inner yuri fan will probably end up loving them since they’re just fricking cute!!! Genshin truly is a gold mine for yuri ships even if it is mostly subtext but hey they all look insanely cute so I can’t help it!
Oh also fun fact, most of the main Japanese voice cast of Madoka is in Genshin so you can have an almost full Madoka team lol (Female Traveler = Madoka, Jean = Homura and Keqing = Sayaka, all that’s left is Mami’s voice actress and Kyouko’s voice actress to voice a character in Genshin and we can have that full Madoka team!)
Also another thing, I wish you the best of luck Lena! Hopefully you get your Jean soon!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hey there 🙂
First up, thank you and good luck with Ayaka as well~ I hope she’ll come out soon, she’s one of the prettiest characters out there, plus her Japanese voice is just HNGHHH
As for the other voices, especially the Madoka cast, I’m just so happy! It’s a shame that Lumine never talks, seeing that her voice actress is so amazing 😀
However, nothing can beat my little Hutie Cutie (yes, that is how I call Hutao) and her cute “yahoo’s” or Baedou (yes that is spelled like that on purpose as well) and her oh so charming laughs when she glides~
LikeLiked by 2 people
Thanks Lena! I hope I can get Ayaka, she is one of my most anticipated characters, and I love Hayami Saori voicing her!!!
Also I wish Lumine talked more since she is adorable and I just want to hear her more! As for Hu Tao, she is such a troll but an adorable troll at that! Also lol I won’t lie Beidou is bae and just awesome!
Hopefully when more characters release we will get more ships sailing, I’ve already seen Yanfei shipped with Hu Tao which I think is cute tbh! And like I said, Lumine/Female Traveler can go with any of the girls and the ship would end up being adorable!!!
LikeLiked by 1 person
The new ship Yanfei x Eula is amazing <3. Plus, Lumine x Amber is really cute.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Couldn’t agree more~
LikeLiked by 1 person
Odd Taxi EP 4 just last week, devoted an entire EP to Cacha Games. The supply of real cash in my wallet is very, very limited. The supply of imaginary items is infinite. The math would indicate that no amount of real money could even make a dent in the supply of imaginary items. Gacha games are like a very addictive drug. Glad to see Lena back and posting again. Hope it keeps up.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Now the question is, how do we get off of this drug? And do we even want to do that?
What a dilemma…. 😀
LikeLiked by 2 people
Mahjong is the only electronic game I have ever played on my computer. While there is no “got you” to it, handling all those tiles is much easier by program. Glad to see that you are back and posting. I hope that will continue. Lena has a lot of fans.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Always glad to see another post from Lena!
I have always wanted to try Genshin Impact but I just can’t get into gacha games. I can’t get into any game that uses heavy handed micro transactions like that. The game does look fun and interesting, the characters look great and the yuri potential has me wanting to make the plunge though!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hello there Chimeko~
Well…. I mean just guess what I would suggest you do… 😛
The game is amazing even without any money spent. You’re guaranteed to get some good characters along the way and only if you really really want a certain character it will get dangerous (for your wallet). If you’re willing to simply wait for the characters to come to you, I think you should be save.
If you ever play, add me as a friend ~
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh man, you wanting me to add you as a friend REALLY makes me want to take the plunge and play it now! >.< I'll think on it and let ya know!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I recently started playing Genshin Impact. It’s a fun game but I really hate gacha systems. I somehow lucked out and got Jean early on, but since I don’t want to spend money on the gacha I know I’ll have no chance of getting Ganyu or Keqing. Oh well
I definitely ship Jean and Lisa. Jean even says something like “whenever I’m with Lisa I feel at ease” which is just adorable lol
LikeLiked by 1 person
Why would you even want to spend any money when you got the greatest character right away?! 😀
I know, Jean isn’t the greatest character, but in my eyes she will always be~
Plus, never forget, Lisa also has a voice line where she apparently gets up from a nap and mistakes you (the traveler) for Jean – which implies that Jean is always with her when she wakes up.
God… I love them 😀
LikeLiked by 2 people
They are indeed very good game. We want more gay girls and they give us what we want.
I am usually the kind of person who never spend a single buck in a game and can have fun my own way.
Anyway, I am glad to see you are enjoying these awesome games as well. Just be careful not to spend everything on them XD
LikeLiked by 1 person
Much needed warning here… but it’s already too late 😀
LikeLike
Oh I forgot, but what system do you play Genshin Impact on?
LikeLike
System or server? I’m playing on the EU Server and I do so on my phone, my PC and my laptop 😀
When it finally comes out on the Switch, I will play on there as well. It’s really nice that this is cross platform.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hey just so you know, i pulled Jean on like 3rd pull lmao
LikeLike
oh how I wish that was me…. so sad…
LikeLike
Oh I forgot to ask, Lena I would love to add you on Genshin if that is fine with you.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Of course it is~
My ID is 705730857
I’m playing on the European server.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yay!
Will add you asap, my display name/nickname is Hotaru in Genshin since that is Female Traveler’s name in Japanese!
Hoping to co-op with you soon!
LikeLiked by 2 people
Hi Lena, if you want to add me feel free. I do have Jean, hope it doesn’t make you feel too jealous.
My ID is 700052432
LikeLiked by 2 people
I just found out that I can’t add you since I’m in a different server, I’m in the North American server.
It would have been so much fun co-oping with you Lena but looks like we can’t due to us being in different servers 😥
Maybe hopefully Mihoyo can make it so that you can play with anyone in any server later on
LikeLike
Yeah I had a feeling it wouldn’t work. this is the problem I mostly ran into when I wanted to play with people…
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yeah it really sucks that it doesn’t would have been a ton of fun co-oping with you Lena, hopefully Mihoyo will fix this later on in the line so we can play with anyone from any server
LikeLiked by 2 people
Pingback: What is on My Mind - May 2021 - Kadokawa Unsustainable Goal, Interest in Seiyuu Live Performances, Madoka Magia 4th Movie Announcement and More - Chikorita157's Anime Blog
Pingback: What is on My Mind - May 2021 - Kadokawa's Unsustainable Goal, Interest in Seiyuu Live Performances, Madoka Magica 4th Movie Announcement and More - Chikorita157's Anime Blog
The lack of any yuri would have to do with the romance systems in the games preventing their interactions because they are always trying to have the characters to marry you.
Azure Lane Marriage system is both a gift and a curse.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Arknights has at least one one-sided and potentially eventual canon WlW ship. Scavenger’s file talks about her love for a female member of her original tribe who died before she could confess to her, and also says that she is in love with Provence. There’s also strong, strong subtext of a relationship beyond familial between Blemishine and her “don’t call me aunty” Zofia the Whislash.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Arknights has many maybe platonic couples easily seen as gay like Ch’en x Hoshiguma, Schwarz x Ceylon and Tomimi x Gavial (or one that literally only I see which is Myrrh x Harmonia). Or ones that are pretty much gay in all but the word like Lappland’s crush on Texas or W’s girlcrush on Theresa. The only actual confirmed in words gay character I know of is Scavenger who had a girl she had a mutually romantic relationship with and in the present has a crush on Provence (which is why there needs to be more Provence x Scavenger art, poor girl needs something good in her life). Of course there are the ones that as far as I’ve seen have no bearing like Texas x Exu or Exu x Mostima, Texas x Sora, Seige x Indra, Red x anygirlwithafluffytail, Saria x Silence, Franka x Liskarm, Nian x Lava, and as much as I’m sure I could go on for a fair few more that’s where I’ll stop.
That said I don’t know all that much about Genshin Impact’s gay, I’ve played for a lot of hours but only really gotten a few characters and the only hint of subtext I could see was between Jean and Lisa and I’m pretty sure that was just my goggles.
Either way the whole concept of gacha is facinating, especially with how Arknights’ official insta/Twitter/Idon’trememberallofthemanymore have a tonne of gay art that it’s pretty much official with Exu x someone and Red x everyone and so on.
LikeLike