Princess Connect! Re: Dive is now celebrating its half-year anniversary on the global server. To celebrate, players are being treated to free gems, tons of stamina, and triple drop rates. It feels pretty good to be a Princess Connect! Re: Dive player right now, but how have the last six months been?
Gameplay & Content
Either you love or you hate the core gameplay loop in Princess Connect! Re: Dive. The game mostly consists of grinding to unlock equipment, shards, and other drops on PVE content. It’s also full of tactical thinking when it comes to countering other players in PVP. Finally, there is Clan Battle, where the top clans coordinate strikes to maximize their monthly rewards. It somehow feels active and passive at the same time.
If you aren’t playing Princess Connect! Re: Dive, then you might not know that the actual gameplay isn’t very active. You pick your team, then watch them brawl monsters and other teams. You can occasionally time their Union Burst specials, but that’s about it. While that doesn’t sound too fun, this is more of a tactical game than an action one. Most of the experience is knowing what each character is capable of, then making a team with good chemistry that counters their opponent. It’s not for everyone, but it can certainly be addicting.
So far, we have the story quests which give equipment. We have hard quests that give shards that can unlock and strengthen the units they are tied to. There is also the grotto and dungeon, which are daily spots to grind for currency, experience, and mana. We also have two PVP arena modes that allow for players to showcase their knowledge of team composition. Finally, there are monthly events that allow for players to grind special event loot, and the monthly clan battle.
There is still more content coming in the future (Like Luna Tower), but this is a solid start for players. All of the daily activities can easily be completed within 20 minutes, making Princess Connect! Re: Dive one of the few gacha games that actually respects the player’s time. At the same time, it never feels like there is nothing to do. Players can invest hours a day into Princess Connect! Re: Dive if they desire. Overall, Princess Connect! Re: Dive is doing great as far as content goes, and there is more to come.
Grade: B+
Crunchyroll’s Publishing
Building up to the game’s release, there was a lot of anxiety over Crunchyroll Games handling the Global version. So far, they have done an excellent job of putting those fears to bed. Princess Connect! Re: Dive couldn’t have had a much better launch. The schedule is moving at a pace that’s a little too slow for some players, but the game has rarely felt stale.
More importantly. Crunchyroll has avoided being too stingy. Nothing has been censored, and so far everything that the Japanese server has received has also been given to global players. Crunchyroll is celebrating the same birthdays (With free shards), doing the same gem giveaways, and kept the same gacha rates. They have even added a few extra nice surprises of their own with a special 100 celebration full of summoning tickets. If we didn’t know any better, we would think that Cygames is the sole handler of the global version.
The only negative so far is the delayed Clan Battle rewards, but even those aren’t too much of an issue. This month’s rewards came rather quickly (And just in time for the most important banner of the year).
Grade: A
The Units
The first quarter of the year in Princess Connect! Re: Dive wasn’t too great as far as units go. It’s not surprising that most of the best units come later in the game’s lifespan, but the main goal for new players was to just pull Makoto. After that, no one else really felt essential for quite some time. Sure, Jun, Illya and Kyoka came a few months after release, but these units aren’t 100% essential (Though still wonderful to have). The end result was a long drought where most F2P players were encouraged to not do the most addicting part of the game: Summoning.
It wasn’t until last week that we finally got the first essential unit in Summer Karyl. This is a unit that almost everyone saved up their precious gems for. She is a unit that will set up players for years in both clan battle and arena. Not having Summer Karyl is a massive setback that will hurt those unlucky enough to have her for at least a year. I’m not saying we need nonstop must-have banners since that will lead to power creep, but surely they can do better than just twice a year. The second year looks like it will have tons of great units, but we might have to wait a little bit to see them.
Aside from the frequency of banners, the units we have are great when it comes to diversity and the characters themselves. They each have their own unique identity and there are tons of great waifus for people to whale pull for.
Grade: C+
Story & Presentation
Princess Connect! Re: Dive almost feels like it is half visual novel. I know I once wrote that people should be playing Princess Connect! Re: Dive‘s Japanese server even if they don’t know Japanese, but the truth is that they would be missing out on a lot of great content.
In addition to the main story content, Princess Connect! Re: Dive also has additional character stories, guild stories, and event stories. All of these have tons of text for players to read so that they can get to know the characters they are using. Those who take the time to read all of these stories will realize that most of these characters aren’t as one-dimensional as they seem. They are all well-written and a lot of fun.
The game is full of cute art and cute sprites for players to enjoy. Any unit can be set as an animated wallpaper allowing for players to show off their big pulls. The menus aren’t too cluttery and are easy to navigate too. Fully animated cutscenes and fully voiced lines are just the icing on the cake here. Princess Connect! Re: Dive just looks great in almost every single way.
There are a few mistakes when it comes to presentation. Typos can be found throughout all of the modes. There are also some formatting question marks as well. It’s not a shoddy translation by Crunchyroll, but it isn’t perfect.
Grade: A
Final Thoughts
Princess Connect! Re: Dive is off to a solid start. With the current anniversary rewards, increased drop rates, and the best banner of the year currently going on, this is the best time to jump into Princess Connect! Re: Dive. This is a game that works as a main or side gacha game, so it can fill whatever gacha needs you might have.
