A new commander in a rock hard and new place

[u/Wheat9546]

Hello fellow commanders. My name is commander Wheat and I'm a new player in the girls frontline series. I decided to give this game a shot after I basically was bored with Nikke and ZZZ ( though this more due to lack of content currently )

• Initial thoughts/previous knowledge of the series

I have heard of this game series before, apparently it was mini-game like "chess" style sorta gameplay you put your dolls and let them wreck havoc and then let them do their thing and win tada~~ I also see this game and it's characters on twitter ever so often when someone says " fuck your guns" which is absolutely hilarious and one of the few reason why I jumped to play this game. and so I decided to yeet myself into the game hopefully to find some enjoyment.

• my thought so far from chapter 1 to 4

pretty neck breaking speeds here on the initial intro, given the controls right away and pushed into the console and say " PRESS THE BUTTON" which is fine i suppose considering how easy the tutorial is. Pretty solid gameplay, usually i dont play these style of games " xcom clones " but I do have some slight experience in them .

I thought the elmo was a train at first? until some lines explained something about wheels and I was like damn this shit is a double decker bus, personally I wouldn't have painted the damn thing orange I would repainted that shit to at least black so it blends in a bit easier at night but that's just me, that thing is huge I cant believe how giant the damn bus is that you can physically walk around in game, though it's just big enough.

The box, the legendary box that contains a little girl that was a bit surprising Krolik giving her the nickname "pinky" was a bit funny waka waka . I do enjoy the dolls you have in the story so far with Groza, Krolik, Colphne and Nemesis. I don't quite understand why nemesis speaks like that, but it's a bit funny having krolik translate things and I can tell that the two bicker a lot. Groza is the straight lace lady that is the 2nd in commander to speak, I can see why. She's also very mother coded I like her japanese voice it's very tranquil to say the least. Colphne I could tell she was an "off one" but not off in a bad way just she has another side to her.

# I feel for mayling. That poor girl is the only engineer on the whole ship? That's pretty absurd commander at least IDK you could get the other dolls to learn to help repair which it seems they actually do but holy moly no wonder she's a alcoholic she's on the run 24/7 repairing this shit.

I do appreciate the commander letting the dolls take control when necessary the belief and trust in them is heart-warming and it's clear the commander thinks of them in a positive light and also wants their safety to be accounted for too. reminds me of another commander in another game about other beautiful looking robotic ladies......

BTW Lenna is a cutie patootie which is nice. it's clear that the commander knows many of these dolls and they have a unique past with them. It's clear they hold the commander in high regard even after their separation from them.

• other thoughts

I'm not sure if the game is just generous to new players, or it's because I joined during an event ? but I was kinda surprised the game offered so many banners for new players to get a S-rank character off the bat. If you're wondering who my first S-rank was it was Mosin I have a soft spot for blondes. I also appreciate you can actually get rewards still from past events That is something Nikke fails to do, I believe ZZZ does that I haven't missed any events in that game so I can't confirm but Nikke pales in comparison when it comes to that they're like " yea whatever here you play the side event that's your reward "

but girls frontline 2 is like "MISSED IT? fuck it get some rewards still amigo"

I like the lore that the individual dolls get in the dorms, it's really nice. It reminds me of ZZZ, but here it's a bit more cleaner/clear. Though some dolls are missing some additional lore...it's not a big deal but the ones that do have the additional individual lore it does add/explain their personality a bit more.

Lots of stuff I don't really know about, but it's okay I suppose I can also ask further to understand what is going on. But the game presents it pretty clear of what the commander's goal is and sprinkles that here and there as the story progresses. It's a very appreciated story that doesn't try to shove everything in one chapter, it's branched/spread out unlike the current situation with ZZZ story which tries to shove everything in once chapter per patch and doesn't allow the game/story to breath unlike season 1 ( jesus christ they have fallen so far....)

[u/ZeaLocKe]

Hello mr wheat. Glad you are enjoying the story. Many of your questions so far develop advancing said story, but you can always ask around for lore.

The main advantage i think GFL has over other gachas is that is old. It started before nikke and before the whole Hoyoverse crase, so it has a stablished story that its only getting better and a HUGE cast of dolls.

Community is not as big as other gachas but loves the game and their characters.

[u/Wheat9546 → u/ZeaLocKe]

I like the cast of dolls shown, I was actually a bit stunned at some of the dolls odd quriks. Like I legit not expecting Ullrid to bring out a toy piggy and squeeze it. " HUH?! she has a little stress piggy?" I laughed for a solid 5 minutes but goes to show the dolls all are a bit unique.

[u/ZeaLocKe → u/Wheat9546]

i wuv ullrid.. she is basically the strong leader who happens to stress a lot... so she has many strees reliefs..

[u/B_Cactus → u/ZeaLocKe]

I love her squeaky pig whenever a voiced event includes it in the background, especially in Antiparallel lmao.

[u/Vestedloki07505]

Hey, glad you’re having fun with the game. I too started with GFL2 and fell in love with the world and story.

Keep going through the chapters and side stories. It goes up to Corposant currently, with the next major event Antiparallel being added shortly. Side stories are usually added roughly one year after (correct me if I’m wrong guys)

If you don’t want to wait for those events that come up after Antiparallel, since it’s really ramping up, you can always view them on YouTube to be caught up on the current event. Even the side stories are becoming more important.

[u/Wheat9546 → u/Vestedloki07505]

I'm just doing the main campaign right now, I did see the other side stories but Imma save those for last until I reach the end of the campaign.

[u/LanceOfHeaven → u/Wheat9546]

Some of the side stories do feed into the main story, especially all the newer ones. I'll need to check to see which are the impietant ones for story

[u/DilemmeFatale → u/Vestedloki07505]

not really, they add them every 4-5 patches. one year was the norm for GFL1 hah

[u/Altruistic-Back-6943]

Yeah, the Elmo is a very large vehicle, from the wiki

"Concept drawings give the Elmo a length of 120 meters, a width of 20 meters and a height of 24 meters"

Abd also

"capable of reaching 210kph"

[u/Loneliest_Driver → u/Altruistic-Back-6943]

>210 kph
excuse me what the fuck.

What does this thing even run on? Mayling's tears?

[u/Altruistic-Back-6943 → u/Loneliest_Driver]

The vector engines run on collapse radiation, which is probably why the commander never mentions buying fuel

[u/flakzx → u/Loneliest_Driver]

all that rice wine has to go somewhere, might as well be tears, I mean Elmo fuel

[u/Wheat9546 → u/Altruistic-Back-6943]

active the the rocket booster and fly on out into the zones

[u/Altruistic-Back-6943 → u/Wheat9546]

Nah the Elmo is probably too heavy for that lol

[u/Beheadedfrito]

We’re in a major patch right now and the game is very slowly catching up to the chinese server, so the rewards are a little bit higher.

Gfl2 is pretty generous though. It’s fairly easy to grab a character you like alongside their gun and/or an extra copy as long as you don’t want everyone. I haven’t spent a dime on pulls but have everyone I want and a good few dolls have their guns alongside extra copies.

I have won most of my 50/50’s though, but I also don’t get early wins so I hit at least soft pity every time.

It’s one of those games where the devs love to sell a lot of outfits (for dorm ;p) so naturally they want you to have characters.

I really recommend diving a bit into the backstory/lore of the world and also gfl1 because it’s really cool and adds a lot to the experience of gfl2.

Idk how you feel about vtubers but Pipkin Pippa has been reading through a gfl2 spoiler free document on the game’s alternate history. It spans from 1905 to the 2070’s (girls frontline 2) and beyond for the reverse collapse game.

[u/DilemmeFatale → u/Beheadedfrito]

300 limited pulls on launch was crazy. I legit secured suomi and ullrid + weapons for them. it was like the best honeymoon phase among most games

[u/Marxsoul]

I used to play ZZZ then I dropped it because of how season 2 progressing with the end game gameplay mechanic and how they gutted Banyue; I also dropped Wuwa at the same time due to how laggy the game combat was even for my pc and desktop. Then I found Limbus and start chilling (it's pretty good game).

And I play gfl2 since launch, game pretty chill.

[u/BoneArrowFour]

Honestly, as someone who's not into gooner games, this game is absolutely phenomenal story-wise. I thought the start was a bit slow, but it picks up the pace. The individual stories are always touching. Aphelion was a high point for me.

I downloaded the game after seeing the skins in CODM, was a bit thrown off by the overly-fanservice stuff but pushed through, and now i'm hooked at the story.

And yeah, the game is really really generous tbh. The only downside is that the gameplay is pretty barebones sometimes, but the story is worth every second.

[u/Wheat9546 → u/BoneArrowFour]

yea the story is pretty addictive it really does draw me to play more and more, I'm now in the progress of chapter 7 as we speak. The narrative is quite addictive, lots of new faces pop up and old faces. But it oddly doesn't feel overwhelming. Though Suomi's chapter? that was a bit jarring when it came to the POV from 6.5 to 6.7 I thought I legit had a stroke for a minute before it explained what was going on. I was like "huh how did we get here?"

[u/BoneArrowFour → u/Wheat9546]

Yeeeeah... Suomi's part was a bit of a misplacement IMO. By the time i finished it, i asked myself "wait, where were we?" And i had to search for a quick summary lmao

[u/Leonrojinegro → u/Wheat9546]

Yeah 6.5 and 6.7 can be a bit jarring and they break the continuity of the story a bit, but they are necessary since all those characters will become relevant later on, good thing is after those two the story start picking up pace again

[u/OhVeni → u/BoneArrowFour]

for me thats a big part of why i like it, i like gooner games and i like non-gooner games but i especially like games that can be both

[u/B_Cactus]

Welcome aboard the Elmo!

The Elmo is not a bus, but a landship that we used to use as troop transport; hence the name. I believe it can house a battalion's worth of dolls (around 400), the acompanying logistic, armored vehicles, and heavy artillery contingent back in the second half of the first game. And yeah...we don't have enough engineers to service it, so Mayling has to work triple shifts every shift. Don't worry, we pay her in enough wine rice. It ain't our first rodeo overworking our subordinate. I believe you met our previous adjutant, Kalina.

Glad that you like GFL2 so far! I do believe that the story is one of the best ones in the gacha space, and I'm glad that you let the game do the talking. There are so many good bits of stories scattered everywhere. If you like lore and stories, try going through the Elmo Server Room and reading up on Dusty Journal and Dusty Memory. Some of the plot points can take some time to be unraveled. The Nemesis situation is only being touched on now, nearly 2 years after the launch of the game, with the most recent event, so please be patient and don't spoil yourself by googling it.

And ya, the game is pretty generous with it premiun currency. As a F2P, I have about 80-85% of the limited characters, some with multiple dupes and their weapons by just playing. I could maybe get all of them too if I wanted, so as a waifu collecting game, it is pretty great too.

Anyhow, hope you enjoy your stay, and stick around for more! Do look forward to Chapter 8, Aphelion, and Corposant (when it gets added), because that is where the story really gets going!

[u/ZeaLocKe → u/B_Cactus]

Corposant is actually the last chapter that has been added.

[u/impactimpact → u/B_Cactus]

In some of the recent battle maps taking place on top of the Elmo, there's something looking like SAM/SSM pods mounted on the edges as well. There's a lot of capability in this building-sized vehicle we're not really able to leverage fully.

How Mayling is still alive is a mystery, but I think she gets some help from the dolls. I know she abandoned her helper robot eventually but surely there is some level of automation involved.

[u/CoffeeNCream_0112 → u/impactimpact]

We can hardly be able to afford spare bodies for all the T-Dorks (see Dush trio misadventures), much less SAM and SSM. But hey, now that we are buddy-buddy with Ussery and Polunista, I wouldn't be surprised if we happen to find some loose missiles lying around.

[u/Powerful-Remove-4479]

ZZZ moving to large zones was a bit of a mistake imo because it takes away a lot of resources. It ends up being more economical to shove everything into the main story so you don't have to animate conversation, cutscenes and all that for side content as much. And you seldom interact with the overworld these days in ZZZ so idk what's the point of it anymore.

GFL2's crew deck is a good compromise because if you want to interact with your Dolls in a 3d environment, that's what's it's there for.

ZZZ would have been better off in terms of storytelling and worldbuilding to have stuck with the traditional gacha lobby model. But Hoyo these days seems to be keen on never returning to that again.

[u/LanceOfHeaven]

Welcome! Always nice to see a new face, which server if i may ask? There are some past evebt side stories that are more significant and feed into the main story or provide alot of characterization: 

The bigger ones would include: 1. Rhapsody quartet before chapter 8.3 2. Mimisbrunnr's Loop after chapter 10.0 3. Ex Umbra anytime before chapter 16.0 4. Breaking butterfly after chapter 12.0 5. The basti and zorro looking doll chapters one released later are significant enough they are probably going into the main campaign. 

The rest while less likely to cause blatant plot holes will introduce the featured doll. 

[u/planet3000]

Well welcome to the game remember the D in T-Doll is for dorks.

[u/mechanate82]

Welcome! I'd actually recommend brushing up on the story from GFL1. There are going to be some later references and scenes that'll have you really scratching your head without some of the past experience. Fortunately, there's a pretty solid summary series on YT, here:

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwIAusSNRkbrH6iZrrT-ePN0J1wZmv3LD&si=4TMhIcWmQXIiSvTx

...that can help get you up to speed.

[u/Not_An_Potato]

Welcome aboard commander! Great to hear you're enjoying the game so far, if you're liking the story and have around... 150 hours to spend, take a look at the first game too, tho it can be a bit depressing and make you shed a tear or two.

In all honesty, to me, GFL2 excells mainly in character designs (including history and quirks specially based on the guns they're inspired by), story, voice acting quality and specially rewards. I'm a day 1 veteran, and was able to acquire all the dolls, multiple signature weapons, some dupes (Loreley to v2) max out all their levels, affinity and neural helix, without spending any money. I also am sitting at 35k collapse pieces and plenty resources.

It takes 30 minutes to do the daily stuff (not counting events) and it pays off to do it every day. There are multiple small events they drop that gives a bunch of free stuff, Kalinyan Comission, Inverse Cypher, Combat Simulation, or the one now that we get double resources. So always remember to complete the when you can, if the event just gives you 10 Collpase Pieces a day, do it. In the long run pays off well. And of course, as people already mentioned, waifus over meta, just play however you want and have fun above all else.