genuinely baffled by seeing so many takes on Genshin Impact that are like "wow it's amazing this AAA-ish game is free!" and some that are like "yeah but they gotta fix how scarce resin is for the endgame." Like, what? It's not free. That's how it's not free

"It is simply AMAZING that nature could evolve this wonderful velociraptor when I thought dinosaurs were slow and big"
[puts head inside velociraptor mouth]
"These teeth are a little pointy though, huh?! LOL"

Genshin Impact is perfectly evolved and the nested-sytems>>>monetization design is immaculate. It's still monetization design! If it's not to your taste don't worry, a F2P apex predator evolved for a closer match to your brain ridges will undoubtedly appear before long

a) yes, almost any genre/scale can be F2P
b) successful F2P games usually take in more revenue?
c) incorporating monetization design into the heart of a game inherently distorts and affects how play is designed and experienced, there's no avoiding that https://twitter.com/FINNJC/status/1315726891530235905?s=20

In case of confusion I also need to point out that despite being "free," microtransaction business models are very hard for small businesses / solo devs to compete in; they farm thin profit margins at huge scale, with higher maint. costs and constant data analysis to optimize

There's a bit of cognitive dissonance in claims about how GI isn't really gacha, or is better/different somehow. If you look closely, it's got very finely honed, effective gacha mechanics! If you have a human brain, it's normal, not shameful to feel fascinated/absorbed by those.

Some "discerning playres" might see F2P microtransactions, or gambling in general, as "not the kind of game I play." Someone is always "the kinds of game other games are embarassed by," right? But what if we paused to contemplate Why These Work So Good for a bit instead?

TLDR: it's not necessarily a Different Better Breed of Game just because you're absorbed by it. It's just an iteration that's figured out how to work you: the clothes, the style, the polish, the numbers. That itself might be interesting, as part of the mutation of your own tastes