You summed up the problems I have with relying on RNG really well! Sometimes fun surprise matchups result and it's great when it works out. I've played both a god and a shinki here and honestly? I've found it easier to app and establish a shinki when I know where they'll be going and can plan ahead a little.
I like the idea of basing the shinki number on follower count though I think that starting number is a little high. Personally, I think a brand new god should only be allowed to have one shinki until they establish themselves given that they also gain a residence of their own and that's a pretty big advantage all on its own. I agree that the nora system isn't utilized enough and I'd also like to add that the god/shinki partnership, while important, isn't the only partnership characters can build in game. Gods and shinki ally with each other, too, and I think this is something that could be encouraged a lot more.
In my experience, the loss of a partner is harder to recover from when playing a shinki than it is a god, mostly because shinki are inescapably dependent on their gods. When a god drops, whatever development plans you had wind up derailed because the shinki winds up uprooted. Basically, there's an uneven logistics issue when it comes to character development and I think it's contributing to the shinki drought, too. Players need more OOC incentives to app and play shinki here which I believe is an issue that's been raised before. While shinki have intriguing IC elements to them, the OOC logistics issues saps a lot of appeal they have. As others have stated before on HMDs, the role of shinki in general need further expansion in game to make them just as appealing as gods and there are ways of doing this without rewriting what shinki are by giving them more development options from a meta perspective. Shinki-only missions, missions tailored to different types of shinki, etc, might be a good place to start.
ayrt
I like the idea of basing the shinki number on follower count though I think that starting number is a little high. Personally, I think a brand new god should only be allowed to have one shinki until they establish themselves given that they also gain a residence of their own and that's a pretty big advantage all on its own. I agree that the nora system isn't utilized enough and I'd also like to add that the god/shinki partnership, while important, isn't the only partnership characters can build in game. Gods and shinki ally with each other, too, and I think this is something that could be encouraged a lot more.
In my experience, the loss of a partner is harder to recover from when playing a shinki than it is a god, mostly because shinki are inescapably dependent on their gods. When a god drops, whatever development plans you had wind up derailed because the shinki winds up uprooted. Basically, there's an uneven logistics issue when it comes to character development and I think it's contributing to the shinki drought, too. Players need more OOC incentives to app and play shinki here which I believe is an issue that's been raised before. While shinki have intriguing IC elements to them, the OOC logistics issues saps a lot of appeal they have. As others have stated before on HMDs, the role of shinki in general need further expansion in game to make them just as appealing as gods and there are ways of doing this without rewriting what shinki are by giving them more development options from a meta perspective. Shinki-only missions, missions tailored to different types of shinki, etc, might be a good place to start.