So, Granblue Fantasy, noted gacha game, has actually had an action RPG in development for about 8 years now that finally came out; originally, it was going to be co-developed by Platinum, but a whole bunch of stuff happened and Osaka Cygames ended up taking over development. It’s kinda like a mix between FFXIV, Tales, and Monster Hunter, with a bias toward action and spectacle. I’m currently farming endgame raids (Mostly Proto Bahamut for the terminus weapon). There’s some elements of Gacha/MMO (some semi-important or very important things drop from raids randomly, for example, and of course the Sigil Gacha), but the actual raids are pretty skill-based.
I just considered trying it, but even though it’s a gacha game, it’s not free. $60, sorry nope.
The Gacha elements are reletively constrained (really just to Sigils and Wrightstones). Characters are gotten using cards that drop during the game and can be bought from the in-game store using in-game currency that you earn from playing the game, and there’s no “pay to win”; you play the “sigil gacha” using in-game currency you get from fights and selling useless sigils and other drops.
And even then, you mostly just need to run that if you’re going for the most meta end-game builds for the fastest clears on the hardest raids; if you never interact with the Sigil pulls, you can still put together a team that can clear all the quests.
It is, first and foremost, an action RPG that just kinda bolted on a random element for… Not 100% sure TBH. But you’re not paying real money for anything other than the DLC, and each DLC is coming with the major stuff in it as title updates rather than paid-for (Like the super hard raid coming next month).
Relink is game I’d get if I had excess money and less other games to play. I was curious about it when it was coming out, but after it came out and most of the things I saw people talking about it was Monster Hunter like missions, end game grind and multiplayer, my interest waned. I was hoping more traditional console rpg experience, than what it apparently gives. I already have Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising for being able to take direct control of the characters and seeing them do cool stuff.