I remember back when I used to play Genshin Impact, there would be this sage-like state you’d enter—with all the quests done and the resin empty. You’d do what you can to make the most out of a free-to-play game and do what most call resinless behavior.
Fast forward a couple of years, and I’m playing a different game now: Uma Musume Pretty Derby. With the number of times I’ve written about the game, you’d think I’d get sick of it—but nah, percentages are a lie. And if you lose a roll with a 2% failure rate three times in a row, you tend to just laugh about it. Totally not bitter, by the way. I’d laugh if it happened to somebody else too—especially if it’s a friend.
That out of the way, it’s been a couple of months since the game got released, so here are a few realizations I’ve had and lessons I’ve learned.
Preparation is king
In Uma Musume, there’s no real PVP action. Being a gacha idol game, you don’t really get much in terms of material rewards; however, you do get to face off against players in the Champion’s Meetings, or CMs. Since the game’s global release, it’s followed the Japanese server—albeit a bit accelerated—and with it, the stat requirements, as well as horse and skill recommendations.
You can prepare weeks, even months, in advance—making the perfect horse girl and pulling for your oshi—but on the day it finally comes, sometimes you’ll still lose by lengths. You know how you lower those odds of losing? Preparing.
I can count the number of times I’ve felt clueless grinding out my horse girls, but when it comes down to it, having sub-goals on your way to your target makes the grind more bearable. You have your goals, so focus on them—and even if you feel underprepared on the day of your competition, even if you didn’t give 100%, you still put in an effort, and that’s what counts.
Ambition can go as far as your resources take you
There’s a reason why nerds often say Batman with prep time always wins—but let’s be real, Batman wins when the writers call for it, and you’re no writer. Remember, Batman with prep time is invincible (at least in the eyes of a Batman fanboy), but people forget the part about him being a genius, playboy, philanthropist, etc.
You’ve got a plan, yes—but all this min-maxing doesn’t really matter if your efforts aren’t even close to what you’re aiming for. In Uma Musume, the stats, events, and outcomes of how you raise your horse are dependent on the deck you have available. Sure, you could use your mega-rare cards with only one copy, but your rare cards with multiple copies give off better stats in the long run.
Consistency is key—and with time and the number of attempts you can do per day being another resource, the best way to go about it is to make each attempt realistic rather than go full delulu.
Life is all about the struggle and crawling out of it—but you need to know your outs rather than constantly hope for the best.
Horse around and move on
With all that’s said and done, the biggest lesson I’ve really learned was to accept what happens and take life as it is. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose—but the world won’t stop and wait for you.
The rush of seeing your effort blossom right in front of you is something else, and more often than not, the inverse—seeing it burst into flames—is another feeling entirely. But life goes on.
It’s a fun ride at the end of the day, and there’s just something about making an effort, even if it doesn’t give results, that makes a journey worth taking.
If you ever feel bad about how life is at times, circumstances can change—and even Goliaths fall. There are lots of underdogs who came back from worse.
A big example of this was a lineup that a friend of mine used in the recent CM. It should’ve won, or at least gotten a positive win rate—but life had other plans.
This comp that I used went full delulu and just prayed for a win. I guess at the end of the day, the real lesson was to let your delulu be trululu and have fun along the way?
