So I just downloaded this game on a whim and I'm enjoying it much more than Record Keeper so far. Not quite sure what I should be doing as far as upgrading equipment, summoning, etc.. but I just killed Siren and got the first esper.
I assume I should keep summoning companions in battle until I have enough friend points to summon someone permanently?
Is there a good beginners guide for this game? And is it still a fun game if you don't spend any money?
Kinda trying to decide between playing this and Kingdom Hearts Unchained, or both...
Welcome to the thread and the community!
In order of presentation:
1) Work on clearing story mode first. This will give you access to a key number of basic equipments and spells/abilities as well as unit awakening materials.
1a) When you reach Grandshelt Castle and unlock the arena, work on the Colosseum to unlock even more gear for free.
2) A couple basic pulls to fill out your team is fine for now, but as others have mentioned, there are no good units to pull at featured rates not now (until at least Friday at the earliest). You won't god-tier units to clear story mode and early to mid Colosseum.
3) Beginner's Guide:
Click Me. It's a little dated at this point, but still generally valid.
3a) Yes. Unlike other Gacha games, the amount of free premium pulls is quite high. As a result you can expect to create at least a mid-tier team relatively easy over time from just free and daily half-priced pulls. Outside of Elite (ELT) difficulty and perhaps some extreme end-game trials, a solid F2P team can clear pretty much everything. Even then, with the assistance of some of the very powerful friend units in this community, even the hardest difficulties can be overcome (and often are on a weekly basis).
Feel free to ask the community any questions that you want. We were all there at one point in the game, and many of us like to help each other out as best as can contribute to the Exvius-GAF community.