Why even waste your time making this post if you don't actually want anyone to debate you? In your post, and in a couple comments, you say you can't/won't be dissuaded from your opinion; so literally why waste your energy making this post (or any of your other bullshit ones, for that matter)?

There's nothing to discuss based on your viewpoint. It doesn't matter what anyone says about the gameplay being actually OK because you've already formed your opinion it seems. Judging a book by its cover.

Dude, I dislike games that prey on addictive behavior as much as.the next guy, but holy cow are you a toxic piece of work. You waffle on about how we all left Reddit for some ulterior motives and whatnot. Most people left Reddit because it has become the very headbutting contest you try to pull off here.

If you cannot understand why this game has appeal (and that's a sentiment many of us would share I think), don't fucking play it. But don't walz around constructing some weird superiority story out of that. That's just immature and petty.

Oh, and don't assume that every Lemmy user has the same reason for being here than you or shares your values.

Huh, I'm starting to guess we're dealing with a teenager here.

I have a side question if you don't mind.

In multiple posts you mentioned how you expected people on fediverse to be "more principled" and how they can only support the smaller option or just give up and accept everything corps throw at them which is why you're surprised some play gacha games.

Does that expectation also extend to "normal" F2P games like Apex, Fortnite etc? Does it include people playing full-price AAA games? Titles like GTA, Diablo, Halo, majority of MMOs and more - games that not only are paid but also include season passes and micro transactions.

Should people also avoid those?

Just so we're clear, it's a genuine question. I have no skin in the game as I don't really play HSR, AAA games or really care what people expect from me but I'm curious about your perspective on things.

Its like Genshin. It has a very specific audience (weebs). It just happens to be a niche that is very active online. Most people who that doesn't appeal too just don't think about it rather than posting about something they dislike.

Its ok to let people like the things they enjoy

You have very strong opinions for a game you clearly have never played. If you boldly claim a game is "trash", but haven't actually played a minute of it yourself, then your opinion is invalid, and should be ridiculed and dismissed.

That said, if you're actually looking for a real answer and not just shouting "look at me and my superior, sophisticated taste in video games," it may come as a shock to learn that the answer isn't as profound as you may think: Different people like different things.

Can someone explain to me why Honkai: Star Rail is treated as something other than trash?

Nah.

Like Genshin Impact, Star Rail has a decent base game that does well with its characters and combat. Notice I didn't say "great".

However, after you get through the intro and the first world, they start adding on to the game. There's a whole bunch of 1-off mini-games that are fun in their own right and have nothing to do with the Gacha.

The first one is a museum administration mini game where you're responsible for "hiring" people that have 3 stats, and then balancing those stats to make money for the museum, then using the money to upgrade the museum, run mini-quests to restore the museum, and hire more staff. And expand the museum.

Each of these little mini-games is a few days of fun, and I think I've found 4 so far IIRC in Star Rail. Genshin Impact has had similar things, but tend to not be permanent, and to be less involved than Star Rail's.

The gacha is generous enough that you can generally play without paying anything. I don't think I've given any money to Star Rail, though I have paid the monthly $5 to Genshin Impact for a few months now. And I'll admit, I started thinking about paying it to Star Rail, too. It's definitely a gacha game, but on the actually-playable side if you're playing free.

That said, if gacha games are something that just stick in your craw, it's unlikely that any game will change that, and I'd argue that you're better off never finding out.

In the end, I'd say you're best just accepting that for what it is, it's one of the best, and letting it go. There's no point in being upset that people enjoy a game that you can't. Let them have their fun, and go have your own instead.

ITT: https://i.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/facebook/000/017/314/stop_liking_file.jpg

Okay guys, who fed the gremlin after midnight?

The inherent appeal of gacha games is always cute anime girls/pretty anime boys. I doubt anyone will find any of these games appealing to them if they don't like the art style in the first place.

I haven't played Honkai or Genshin Impact, so my understanding and knowledge of both games is fairly limited (mostly hearsay from people who actually played them), so take the rest of the message with a healthy dose of salt.

I've heard the production value is excellent compared to most other mobile games: for the low price of $0 (gacha microtransactions excluded, of course) you get a full open world game with nice graphics and animations and a fully fledged story (I'm unsure how good that actually is and from what I've seen I'm inclined to think "not much", but it probably appeals to anime fans).

I've also heard that you can play Genshin Impact for free and still get the characters you want if you're patient enough, which is not something that can be said of most gacha games. The PvE nature of the game means that you don't necessarily need the best lv999 S-rank character to compete with other players, and can enjoy (most of?) what the game has to offer for free, which means that you don't need to engage with the gacha aspect of the game if you don't want to. I don't know if that applies to Honkai as well, but considering it's a very similar game from the same software house, I'd say it's possible.

In conclusion, I don't think the game is worth checking out if you don't like anime and/or mobile games, but if you like any of those and are a young person without a stable income, a f2p open world game with bells and whistles such as nice graphics and animations could be appealing. Although, as I said, my opinion is mostly derived from hearsay and a quick glance at YT to check what the deal was about, I won't pretend I really know what I'm talking about here.

Username doesn't check out

I haven't played Honkai: Star Rail, but there are plenty of great mobile games and plenty of great free to play games. You sound like you just have an extremely narrow mind.