Anime Games - Is "anime GTA" real?

[Judge Dredd]

Help this old middle aged man understand anime games.

Bit of a powerlevel for context. It used to be I could tell most games just from a screenshot or two. I used to have an interest in the weird and obscure. Like the weird Japanese version of Counter Strike that had power ranger looking guys, or the Half-Life 2 arcade game. After the Xbox 360, entire segments of gaming were a mystery to me. Mobile games? Might as well be a black hole in terms of knowledge to me.

Enter anime games.

I largely ignored them due to be gatcha/gambling games designed to waste time. I only really heard of them when they went viral for one reason or another. Like that one furry butler character that women went crazy for, or the one that made culture war people mad when you could unlock "girlfriend animations" with the example being an animation you watch a movie and she cuddles you with no shoes on (leading to the phrase "tactical feet placement"). But even then, I couldn't tell you a Zenless Zone Zero from a Wuthering Waves.


Now I've heard of "NTE", which is supposedly "anime gta". It feels like I've been hearing "GTA 6 but anime" as a selling point for a few different games now. Are they the same game with a name change? Are they gatcha mmos or single player open worlds? Do they ever come out? Are they any good?

I specifically remember this trailer going viral, then have heard fuck all about it since.

 

[Canoodler]

I played God Eater 1, 2, and 3. I think those count as anime games. I would have enjoyed them more if there wasn't a ridiculous grind in those games.

 

[I'm Retarded?]

there are plenty of anime games that have no intersection with gatcha/gambling. it's more that gatcha/gambling games use cute anime characters as a hook to draw people in, much like real gambling machines use pretty graphics and flashing lights to brainhack boomers and turn them into dopamine slaves. in my experience, gacha games are all shallow, retarded, overrated slop and should be avoided completely.

here are some anime games that have no gacha elements which I have enjoyed:

• Tales of Berseria / Arise
• Granblue Fantasy: Relink
• CODE VEIN
• Scarlet Nexus
• Persona 5 / Shin Megami Tensei V
• Dragon Quest XI

 

[Sparky Lurker]

Anime Games peaked with Lost Paradise:

 

[Billy the Adult]

It sounds like specifically you are talking about the Genshin Impact style of gacha games. As far as I'm aware they are essentially a popular game + anime artstyle + gacha mechanics. You'll get plenty of new properties and failed ones, since Genshin is such a money printer. Pretty much a different brand of Games as a service. As far as I'm aware, they are servicable - much closer to games than most dedicated mobile gachas, but if you care only about gameplay I imagine just playing the inspiration would be fine (such as just playing GTA rather than NtE).

 

[Breadbassket]

Donghua or anime?

 

[REGENDarySumanai]

Dragon Ball games tend to be pretty good.

 

[We Are The Witches]

One of my favourite videogames of all time is anime, which is Dragon Ball Z Budokai Tenkaichi 3 for the PS2 (the series where you can move in any direction).

There are also some that can be great if you're in the mood, like Pokémon Conquest.

 

[Grub]

I don't really know what this thread's about and I don't really like anime but I played a bunch of dungeon crawler games that seemed like they were basically a bunch of anime characters. Demon Gaze 1 & 2, Operation Babel and Operation Abyss, Undernauts and Stranger in Sword City. The Demon Gaze games were probably the most anime. You collect weird anime girls to make up your party. Stranger in Sword City was my favourite but had the least anime feel to it. The Etrian Odyssey games were pretty anime heavy as well. Actually, dungeon crawlers in general seem like they've pretty much been become mostly anime themed now.

 

[REGENDarySumanai]

One of my favourite videogames of all time is anime, which is Dragon Ball Z Budokai Tenkaichi 3 for the PS2 (the series where you can move in any direction).

There are also some that can be great if you're in the mood, like Pokémon Conquest.

Based. Check out the Budokai Tenkaichi 4 mod by the TeamBT4. God bless those guys, they know what they are doing.

 

[Judge Dredd]

I played God Eater 1, 2, and 3.

CODE VEIN

I played one of the god eaters (I think it was 3? The one where everyone has electricians tape on them) and Code Vein.

I didn't really get on with Code Vein. It was fun, and better than Dark Souls, but it was just so bland in terms of gameplay. The character creator carried that game, and I wondered why they never made a sequel or use that character creator for a different game. Just googled, and it turns out there is a Code Vein 2. Never heard of it despite the hype around the original.

I played Dragon Quest 9 I think it was. It was for the DS and you made a custom guy and flew around on a train looking for magic fruit. I liked that. Supposedly it was the black sheep of the Dragon Quest family though. I had a friend who obsessed over DQ8. Especially the weird villain who was a jester? And some woman you could dress as a playboy bunny? I meant to play it, but I don't care for JRPGs and never got around to it.

I can go into more retro games too, like the weird Ghost in the Shell third person shooter on PS2. Or a bunch of mid tier licenced SNES games that never left japan.

there are plenty of anime games that have no intersection with gatcha/gambling.

As far as I'm aware they are essentially a popular game + anime artstyle + gacha mechanics.

This is what I don't get about gatcha. There is clearly a huge market for, say, GTA that is more whimsical. Saints Row 2 and 3 were proof of that. And others have mentioned games like Code Vien. Yet, as far as I can tell, they keep crippling themselves by being gatcha. It could have a broader audience, and the conversation would be about the game, not about "pulls" are or whatever.

This is especially true when the inspiration is either non-existent or keeps dropping the ball. GTA 6 has been in development for years, and there's been no viable alternative. And then there's the random mish mash of things. Like GTA doesn't have monster cars with chainsaws.

 

[Pissmaster]

I largely ignored them due to be gatcha/gambling games designed to waste time. I only really heard of them when they went viral for one reason or another. Like that one furry butler character that women went crazy for, or the one that made culture war people mad when you could unlock "girlfriend animations" with the example being an animation you watch a movie and she cuddles you with no shoes on (leading to the phrase "tactical feet placement"). But even then, I couldn't tell you a Zenless Zone Zero from a Wuthering Waves.

There's a whole bizarre thing going on in the world of anime gacha games where the entire theme is like:

• What if historical battleships were anime girls?
• What if racehorses were anime girls?
• What if firearms were anime girls?

And I guess they're popular because nerds will spend a shitload of money collecting effectively virtual trading cards of anime girls. With a rudimentary game and an attachment to a real-world theme to not just have a pile of sluts existing in a void. You can play them for free on your phone and then whoops you've spent $1200 because you wanna randomly pull the trading card of the girl with the biggest titties. They're barely games, they're more like collection platforms.

As for games that are actually games, uh, I dunno. The most anime game I've ever played was Disgaea, but that's a fun strategy JRPG with anime characters and an anime-style plot about a demon boy wanting to become king of Hell. You play it because you can build out a large roster and mess around with the leveling & reincarnation systems to produce crazy powerful characters that take hundreds of hours to build. It also has a lot of jokes that don't translate all that well.


I dunno, man. Anime is more popular than ever these days, and we've got entire generations that've grown up with it. It is a whole style that puts being cute first. It's popular because it tends to look nice and somehow gets away with being horny, in a world where horny entertainment gives "the ick" to Bluesky addicts with noserings.