Mobile Games

[Exkrementor]

So The Elder Scrolls Blades just came out and to nobody's surprise it turned out to be a massive pay2win cashgrab shitshow.

I remember Blizzard telling us that the monetization method of Diablo: Immortal is not yet decided but i think it is safe to assume that it will also be a pay2win cashgrab game.

On the other hand a lot of people are saying that mobile gaming is a really big market. And this got me curious. I have never played any mobile games (I mean if you count GameBoy games as mobile then sure, I have played some), I dont know anybody who is playing mobile games and I cant imagine why anybody would want to play a game whose only purpose is to compell its players to spend money on diamonds or gems or whatever just to buy exp boosts or lootboxes.

So my questions are:
Are there any normal mobile games that arent just cashgrabs? Like normal PC games but on your phone. Pay once, play forever kinda games. I am also not talking about remakes like Final Fantasy or some "minigames" like Tetris or something.
Who the fuck is playing all these mobile games and why are they spending this much money on them?

This is not a thread to shit on mobile games. I am genuinely curious what the world of mobile games looks like but I have no desire whatsoever to ever play a game on my phone.

[Tech614]

Blame the audience. Publishers have tried just releasing decent pay to own games with no monetization post purchase on mobile and they make significantly less money then the freemium model that pretty much everyone uses now.

The majority of the world is stupid, get tricked by these "free games" then get hooked on them buy a mtx once thinking "oh just this one time to speed things up" and it becomes a regular thing. Since mobile literally caters to the entire world and the world as a whole is mostly idiots like this, this is what it has become. Dumb people like this would not buy a $15 game with substantial content and no mtx because "lol I got all my free games" and then they probably spent $1000s on those games over the last decade.

Anyways there are decent mobile games, the entire ace attorney series is on mobile, a lot of classic JRPGs are as well. Lots of indy games. That's just off the top of my head.

[Mysterymask]

So my questions are:
Are there any normal mobile games that arent just cashgrabs? Like normal PC games but on your phone. Pay once, play forever kinda games. I am also not talking about remakes like Final Fantasy or some "minigames" like Tetris or something.

They exist..either
A. They actually cost money to flat out buy them...
B. They have Microtransactions but they don't hound you to buy them

If you go to your mobile shop and go under premium you will likely find LOTS in catagory A...as for B you just gotta look through review sites and whatnot to find them..if you are into RPGs I'd actually recommend Another Eden..its a fully fledged RPG it has micro transactions but they aren't necessary to actually beat the game and its made by the dude who made Chrono Trigger so there's that

Who the fuck is playing all these mobile games and why are they spending this much money on them?

You would be seriously surprised but mobile games do so well because they appeal to well "non gamers"..you know the ones that don't post on forums like this one and basically only have a semi decent phone and a Facebook account. The asian market also loves the hell out of the gachapon MMOs out there and they are simple to make...they don't last long but it also doesn't take long for a new copy-cat to rise in it's place

so TLDR who plays these...not to many people who post on here but dear god are they everywhere...don't forget that Candy Crush was once upon a time THE LARGEST game on the market for a long long time and its just a glorified match 3 game with metric shittons of microtransactions.

[Edge-]

Are there any normal mobile games that arent just cashgrabs? Like normal PC games but on your phone. Pay once, play forever kinda games. I am also not talking about remakes like Final Fantasy or some "minigames" like Tetris or something.
Who the fuck is playing all these mobile games and why are they spending this much money on them?

https://play.google.com/store/apps/c...opselling_paid

Yes, a lot of them. The cheaper ones ($.99) still usually feature F2P monetization systems as well, but even on that page alone we've got -

Minecraft
Stardew Valley
Cultist Simulator
Bloons TD
GTA San Andreas
Hitman Sniper
Scribblenauts
Terrarir
etc.

Plenty of standard premium titles out there. They're just rarely as popular as the F2P variants (of which many premium games have F2P versions as well)

[Tyraynor]

I think Final Fantasy Dissidia: Opera Omnia is a good mobile game. It acts more like a classic JRPG than just a gactha game. You get characters through story quests and events instead of banners. The only gatcha parts are for weapons and armor, but you can get some of the best of both by grinding tokens that you can use to buy them directly. Even if you do want to pull from the banners, gems are easy enough to get without paying for them. The only cashgrab bs is that some characters get alternate costumes, but those costumes are only available in a monthly $60 gem pack.

SMT: Liberator is pretty decent, also being story focused. But every few minutes the game stops to ask if you buy various gem packs and stuff, and it gets really annoying.

[Acidbaron]

Final fantasy games are good on the phone got dimensions one, challenging enough for your average gamer.

Didn't know cultist simulator was on phone but that game is too complicated to play at random places on the phone for me at least.

[Yunru]

Those games exist for people who are glued on a phone pretty much.


Its more or less a disease by now. You need to understand you are not a targered audiance. Phone zombies are the ones.

[Unlimited Power]

The Room (no, not the movie) is a series of premium puzzle games I personally enjoy. They're somewhat reminiscent of Myst, except the games are primarily focused on trying to break open an expanding puzzlebox with an overarching narrative. Evoland has also been a delight. I also got Rayman for free during Ubisoft's anniversary, but wasn't personally a fan of how it controlled with touch as you're basically blocking your view while playing.

Obviously the vast majority of games on mobile will be f2p p2w garbage as it makes a ton of money. But there are many great premium games on mobile. If you have android, there's also a great many premium games available through humble-bundle's mobile app. I know a lot of the steam bundles I bought also came with android versions.

[Gallahadd]

There are a few that aren’t totally P2W.

Some, like PC games, are P2P, an thus have few/no MTX. Many of these are ports of old PC/Console games.

Then, there are a few F2P games that aren’t total cashgrabs. The only problem with that, is that these games don’t make much money, and thus tend to get shut down. For example, I used to play a game called Fantasy War Tactics, that had MTX, but it was just to speed up the acquisition of things you could grind out, fairly quickly, in game.

Needless to say, it lasted about two years before the devs sold it to a Chinese company, that turned it into P2W shitshow.

Sooo... yeah. There are decent mobile games out there, but you either have to buy them first, or not get too negated, because they’ll probably be shut down/sold off.

[Acidbaron]

Also the "Go" games are good easy puzzle games. Like Lara croft Go, Hitman Go and so on.

[Charge me Doctor]

Also the "Go" games are good easy puzzle games. Like Lara croft Go, Hitman Go and so on.

Pokemon Go.
Huehuehuehue

[Acidbaron]

Pokemon Go.
Huehuehuehue

Noes! (((

[jcf190]

My partner and I are really enjoying Dragalia Lost (Nintendo/Cygames). It's from the creators of Granblue Fantasy. We play Animal Crossing quite a bit as well.

[Miyani]

Iv played lots of games on mobile all being gatcha ones. Only one i still play and don't plan on dropping is a game called sdorica.



From rayark who also made deemo which is a masterpiece of a game.

I've been playing for around 400 days and not spent a single bit of cash on the game. You can use all the characters available. It's the first game i've played where all the characters are useful and some of the common rarities can be better than the super rare characters. Also outdated less useful characters constantly get updated to be relevant again instead of being left to rot like most gatcha games.



Instead of single strong characters the gameplay is all about using characters to combo off each other for full effect instead. Each character having their own skills with very little overlap between other characters. There is so many possible combinations and no one combination can be used for all the fights making sure you change your line up often to complete harder content.

[bloodwulf]

My favorite Phone game is Out There

I believe it has a free version but i got the premium version a long time ago. Basically it is in the veins of FTL, but no combat. You are alone on a ship and have to travel from planet to planet managing resources and supplies. Very low key game, and honestly the soundscape is awesome.

[Sencha]

Those games exist for people who are glued on a phone pretty much.


Its more or less a disease by now. You need to understand you are not a targered audiance. Phone zombies are the ones.

Thanks for the pic. Very accurate!

Sadly the majority of people I see in the streets look like this now.

[Propaganda510]

If you're ok with something more chill and not action packed, I definitely recommend Stardew Valley. I fell in love with the PC version and easily lost myself in it for a few weeks. Not too long ago I picked up the mobile version and usually play an in-game day on my lunch break at work and another at night before I fall asleep. Its a very well made and relaxing game with a beautiful soundtrack, and helps keep your mind calm throughout the day. Plus a few small sessions like that daily prevents you from burning out on it, and my farm is even starting to look pretty nice!

[Edge-]

Those games exist for people who are glued on a phone pretty much.

Except he's asking about premium paid games, not F2P gacha games designed around keeping you glued to your phone to drive monetization opportunities.

Its more or less a disease by now. You need to understand you are not a targered audiance. Phone zombies are the ones.

Can we not do this gatekeeping nonsense? There are plenty of shit games on mobile, just as there are on PC/console, and there are also plenty of wonderful, thoughtful, engaging games as well.

Good lord, this superiority complex "gamers" have when it comes to mobile games is exhausting and silly.

[Onikaroshi]

There's a few out there that you can easily compete as F2P, you just need to sort through the BS.

We play a lot of king's raid, and I have a pure F2P account that's not really that far behind my Dolphin level account (we buy only during good sales). Thing is they constantly give shit out for free for every little thing. Maintenance ran late? 300+ premium currency. Crashing issues? Have a reward.

Hell, they JUST gave us a bunch of really good shit for NOT abusing a bug.... like you got rewarded for not knowing about a bug...

[Yunru]

Thanks for the pic. Very accurate!

Sadly the majority of people I see in the streets look like this now.

Same here. Go into big city, you see 80% of people like this.

As for mobile games. If you realy want a quality ones, you gota look back into past. Way into past. Anything past 2009 is more or less garbage and there is maybe a few gems but thats it.
This for example:
https://wolfenstein-3d-touch.en.uptodown.com/android