Install Steam
login
|
language
简体中文 (Simplified Chinese)
繁體中文 (Traditional Chinese)
日本語 (Japanese)
한국어 (Korean)
ไทย (Thai)
Български (Bulgarian)
Čeština (Czech)
Dansk (Danish)
Deutsch (German)
Español - España (Spanish - Spain)
Español - Latinoamérica (Spanish - Latin America)
Ελληνικά (Greek)
Français (French)
Italiano (Italian)
Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian)
Magyar (Hungarian)
Nederlands (Dutch)
Norsk (Norwegian)
Polski (Polish)
Português (Portuguese - Portugal)
Português - Brasil (Portuguese - Brazil)
Română (Romanian)
Русский (Russian)
Suomi (Finnish)
Svenska (Swedish)
Türkçe (Turkish)
Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese)
Українська (Ukrainian)
Report a translation problem
Discussions Rules and Guidelines
77 
Report this post
Video companions:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uvh9mmhxS8g
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGdccvNy60M
[Cutscene 1 starts] Nikki and Momo went to the attic of a house where they used to live do find a dress for a ball that they are going to attend very soon. However, Nikki thinks that her default outfit looks great. Momo found the default floating outfit and immediately put it in Nikki's bag, then immediately found the default purification outfit and made a remark that Nikki's mum didn't allow them to go to the attic.
Issue 1: It showed that Nikki had a normal life. This is now lost.
Issue 2: Nikki in her normal life is a fashion slop. This is very likely lost on you if Infinity Nikki is the only Nikki game you've played, but that one line of dialogue had shown to Nikki veterans that Nikki is still the Nikki they've come to known. This is now lost.
Nikki picked up the purification outfit and noticed something is wrong, as Momo bumped onto a cupboard with a shiny red dress inside. The dress came alive, made them wear it and transported them to a mysterious ruin. [Cutscene 1 ends]
Issue 3: Very nicely done cinematic with amazing 3D sound and reverb. Huge shame that all the effort that put into the cinematic is gone.
Issue 4: Since 1.2, the game uses the giant dialogue box in cutscenes too, instead of normal subtitles. It wasn't like that previously.
Issue 5: Since 1.2, all cutscenes – even pre-rendered ones – are no longer in ultrawide aspect ratio. Where's the option for that? Wuthering Waves has it. Give me my cinema back!
Nikki followed the mysterious calling as it guided her through obstacles.
Note: This prologue was partially remade back in 1.2. Without going into too many details, the plot was the same in this particular section. Some animations in the opening real time cutscene were refined, but the story delivery made worse. Some voice lines were added, but some others removed. Floating and purification introduction cutscenes were removed. Flowers bloomed around Nikki. Aesthetics were much more colourful, which made the place felt less like a ruin and didn't match the lighting in the following pre-rendered cutscene, but it matched how ruins look in Miraland. The level, which was already super easy, was tweaked to be foolproof.
Note: In 1.2 version of this section, the story vibe changed from "learning about the outfits and this curious place, how exciting" and "screw the ball, Momo, I'm having way more fun here" to "we have to rush to the mysterious calling, it may be urgent". Looking at the changes now, it seems plausible that it was secretly a work-in-progress for 1.5. Some parts of this section remain in 1.5 as it was in 1.2, either literally or spiritually. It's grim if you think about it, about what we get after four versions of nothing but an interlude.
Issue 6: Tutorial of automatically hopping over small heights while in mid-air was removed in 1.2 and still not in the new prologue.
[Cutscene 2 starts] Nikki entered a temple with the power of the red dress and found the source of the calling – a person hanging in chains, who introduced herself as Ena the Curator. Ena broke the chains and fell onto the ground, exhausted.
Ena was familiar with the dress and said that she used to dance with its owner (Nikki's mum?). As monsters started to appear, Ena pulled out the Heart of Infinity from her body and placed it into Nikki, telling her to revive all Miracle Outfits to save the world. In the process, Nikki lost all of her magical outfit and was transported to a world called Miraland.
Issue 3: Another nice cinematic lost.
Issue 7: The red dress, the Threads of Reunion, is now lost. Not even a mention.
Nikki woke up in Miraland, as Momo lamented about his pillow, BBQ, money savings, and Nikki's graduation ball. Being a silly cute person that Nikki is, she just smiled and suggested to think of it as a graduation trip. The two then sets off to explore the place. [Cutscene 2 ends]
Issue 8: This was meant to show the personality of the duo. It is now lost.
Issue 9: By this point, it's extremely clear that she's not originally from Miraland. This is now lost.
Issue 10: The first part of Nikki's journey started and ended here, so there was some significance to this place, which is the Stylist's Guild Memorial. The starting part is now lost.
They found a Whimstar nearby. After absorbing it, Nikki intuitively understood that it's the power source of the Heart of Infinity. She also acquired the sketch of the floating outfit within it and proceeded to craft the outfit with the materials Momo gathered when Nikki was passed out.
Note: In 1.2 version of this part, Nikki simply said that it feels like the Heart of Infinity is seeking something. There was no small conversation with Momo before she absorbed the Whimstar, because it was right in front of the obstacle. I get it, average gacha/mobile player thing. Very unfortunate, however. The sense of exploration was further reduced. They also cut a couple lines in the small cutscene after Nikki absorbed the Whimstar, which may be perceived as dialogue bloat, but it was with nice animations and another showcase of their personality. Doesn't really matter now anyway, everything is gone.
After hopping over the obstacle, Nikki expressed happiness that her first Ability Outfit worked, and excited that she can then float anywhere. As she walked out of the building, Nikki thought the place must have been magnificent and wondered how it became desolated.
Note: In 1.2, instead of wondering, she felt the place feel familiar. Uh oh. Urgency, seriousness, familiarity... Hmm, I wonder where this is going. (Why didn't we stop them cooking... 😭)
Then the duo found more Whimstars, acquired the sketch of the purification outfit and crafted it to clear a monster in the way.
Note: There was a Whimstar buried in the ground. Nikki had to do a plunging attack to break the wooden cover to get it, but she hadn't acquired the purification outfit yet. The wooden cover was gone in 1.2, which was great because it made sense and the plunging attack tutorial will still present shortly after, but also not great because new players possibly didn't get for a long time that the wooden covers can be broken.
Note: After this part, there was a mini cutscene which was just Momo telling Nikki to look at a stained-glass window, leading to the gacha tutorial. It was weird, and they made it even weirder in 1.2. There was no gacha tutorial, the mini cutscene was followed by Dada shouting in a distance.
They came before an exit, however three monsters are in the way. Nikki figured she can combine floating outfit and purification outfit to to do a plunging attack from the air.
Note: In 1.2, Dada, the head of a Stylist's Guild of all people, somehow got pinned by three little monsters. Nikki had to save her with a Ground Pound™. This timeline can't be real.
[Cutscene 3 starts] As Nikki finished purifying the monsters, a girl rushed in for the rescue. Seeing that she was confused about the monsters' whereabouts, Nikki clarified that she purified them. The girl then introduced herself as Dada, the head of Florawish Stylist's Guild.
She recognised that Nikki was not from Wishfield, the region they were in. She also explained stylists use Whim to style and can craft clothes anytime and anywhere. She identified Nikki as a skilled one due to her ability to also purify monsters.
She then told Nikki that Florawish – a nearby town in Wishfield – had a series of mysterious coma incidents. She was looking for leads but the only unusual thing she found was the sudden increase of monsters.
Note: 1.2, though – Dada: "Nothing unusual, though." Momo: "It was just some monsters, though." Singaporean localisation, though. Just want to highlight it, though. Cus it is funny, though. Though, though.
Their chat got interrupted by an incoming message for Dada. She pulled out a tablet called the Pear-Pal, explained that it was created by the Stylist's Guild and that every stylist has one. A slogan was also made by her little sister, Bebe. After reading the message from Bebe, Dada told Nikki to visit their Stylist's Guild to get registered and receive a Pear-Pal, as she rushed back to the guild. [Cutscene 3 ends]
[Cutscene 4 starts] After a short walk, Nikki and Momo saw some blue creatures flying away. Nikki decided to follow them. They jumped into the air, changed to the floating outfit, hopped their way through the forest, and into Florawish. Zoom out to reveal town. Title drop. Zoom back in to Nikki as gameplay resumed. [Cutscene 4 ends]
Issue 11: No more world reveal moment, and the title drop with it.
🎉 Congratulations, you've made it through the first part of this thread. We're just getting started, cus there's a lot more than just retroactively cut contents.
Video companion:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhQBdses-Ns
Issue 12: If you're a new player, you get a pop-up showing that you've acquired the floating outfit before the game is even loaded. Amazing.
[Cutscene 1 starts] Nikki, in the floating outfit, is floating in the air as the Heart of Infinity destroys the world.
Issue 13: Yeah, that concept CG trailer? That was a big fat lie. It's actually the new opening of the game.
Issue 14: If you are an existing/returning player, it still immediately starts from here upon login. You have no option to quit. The server is just opened, my energy is overflowing, and I just want to clear my dailies. I'm not even on my gaming battlestation to fully experience the story. What a bunch of sadistic fools!
Issue 15: The Heart of Infinity looks different now. No explanation given.
Nikki, still in her floating outfit, wakes up in a pool of nowhere with a mysterious cosmic lady in front her. The lady casts rings from her exposed heart, it resonates with Nikki's Heart of Infinity.
Note: Are we going with Wuthering "Sound" Waves lore now? 🕵️
The two approaches to each other, holding hands, changed outfit, the lady carries Nikki, and they fly away to the Sea of Stars. [Cutscene 1 ends]
Issue 16: So they started off grand. I would assume that they thought bigger is better. Oh, how wrong they were. There is no emotion significance, they have given the players zero reason to care about anything so far. All that's left is confusion. Beautiful, sure, but there's no real value in it.
Issue 12: If you're a new player, the pop-ups continue after the cutscene ended. Wow, I've earned all eight pieces of an outfit without doing anything, I don't even know what's going on around me and why these things keep popping up. I'm too good at this game!
Still on the path to Sea of Stars, the lady, introduced herself as The Seer, said Nikki had nearly vanished into the abyss and that it was a narrow escape.
Issue 17: An escape? Certainly didn't feel like it. All I saw was intense handholding action.
The Seer explains that they are in the middle of space and time, and it may collapse anytime, telling Nikki that she needs the floating outfit to traverse safely.
Issue 18: She carried Nikki before, and they are both still in their handholding outfit, why can't she carry her now?
Issue 19: The Seer didn't guide Nikki how to use her ability, only tells her to use it. I miss Ena.
Issue 20: Why does this feels like a tutorial? Because it is a tutorial and the new prologue. Everyone has been bamboozled.
The Seer reiterates that they are going to the Sea of Stars, as she summons a starlight and place it in front of a gate. Nikki collects it and the gate opens.
Issue 21: We heard you the first time.
Issue 22: What is that starlight that shapes like the new Heart of Infinity? Why is it shape like the new Heart of Infinity? Why is it act as a key to the gate? Why do the players have to first learn about it through pop-up text? Why is The Seer not explaining it herself? Why did the devs assume new players understand what is the Heart of Infinity at this point? So many questions...
The Seer invites Nikki to hold hand. They go through a river of stars together, as The Seer explains that the stars – each represents a world – are fallen from Sea of Stars. The Seer flys onto a cresent moon-shaped boat. She extends her hand once again. Nikki accepts the invitation, and The Seer pulls her onto the boat. On a boat ride in the calm cosmic sea, they witness a beautiful sight of whales hopping in and out, and stars falling down. In the end, they are pulled into a spacetime rift.
After transporting to another place in spacetime, The Seer is leading Nikki to the centre of the ring of stars, claiming that that's where the Sea of Stars lies. As they ride on top of a whale, The Seer senses that the time and space are collapsing and the world will soon explode into nothingness. Just as she having said that, the stars start falling rapidly.
[Cutscene 2 starts] A couple of stars landed near the whale, causing Nikki to lose balance and fall from the whale. She lands on the ring closest to the centre, as The Seer flies towards her. Another star lands on the ring and breaks the path between them. The Seer tells Nikki to move the other way along the ring, and they will meet at the other side. [Cutscene 2 ends]
Issue 23: Been a while without a new issue and now The Seer suddenly forgets how to fly.
While running along the ring, Nikki hears the echoes of destruction – the voice of random people in the world – as the world is being destroyed. The two reunites and The Seer carries her towards the centre.
Issue 24: High stakes linear gameplay sequences were done in 1.0, 1.2, and 1.3, and they are all much better than what we have here. The audiovisual effects are subpar, and again, there is little emotional significance here. At this point, we still don't know who The Seer is, what exactly led us up here, and as far as new players are concerned, Nikki is a self-insert protagonist so far, she has no personality and only asks simple questions.
Note: It wouldn't be so bad if this isn't a prologue and we have a story bridging up to the beginning of this. I also wouldn't be surprised if many existing/returning players thinking "what is this, I just want Momo back 😿" when hearing the echoes of destruction. Yes, Momo is missing.
[Cutscene 3 starts] The two falls in space. Nikki loses grip momentarily and The Seer quickly grabs her back. The Seer holds Nikki's hands firmly and casts a ring from Nikki's heart. It is responded with another ring casted from a distance. Nikki looks back and sees another version of herself. Nikki casts another ring and more of herself appear, casting rings and fall in space together. [Cutscene 3 ends]
Issue 26: This is the last cutscene as the story diverges in two ways – for existing/returning players and for new players.
Issue 27: The entire intro especially this scene is so showy of the co-op features. Worse still, it's showy without a purpose. Not one player would understand what all those handholding and ringing mean (until later) without knowing what version 1.5 specifically is about beforehand. More confusion, hurray!
Issue 28: I hope they know that nuking the world and reboot the story immediately is a bad idea, not only because they make past story inaccessible for no good reason, but also because the replacement is ALWAYS lower in quality, and they just created another example of it. By the way, Final Fantasy XIV and Wuthering Waves just said hi. 👋
👀 Checking in... How are you holding up? Remember to take a break, absorb what you've read, cus things will get real complicated.
Video companions:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhQBdses-Ns
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-5WsqI5bdg
New player perspective will be tagged as [NEW] and existing/returning player perspective will be tagged as [EXT].
[NEW] [EXT] Nikki wakes up in a cave in her default outfit, wondering whether everything just happened was a dream. The Seer assures her that it was not so, but a piece of Nikki's memory.
这里旅者是MVP，暖暖是二次躺赢狗是吧🤪
把暖暖放到草地上了是吧🤣
懂的懂的 好吧，说回正题
Issue 29: New players just got bamboozled again. The floating outfit was featured so much it could be assumed that that was the default outfit. It took 15 minutes for the actual default outfit to appear for the first time.
[NEW] Nikki, still in shock about what she saw in the beginning, feels pain in her head as she tries to remember the past. The Seer reveals that the destroyed world was just one of countless worlds in existence.
[EXT] Nikki, still in shock about what she saw in the beginning, asked about the people in Wishfield. The Seer elaborates that it wasn't the world that Nikki used to that was destroyed, but one from Nikki's forgotten memory, and that world was only one among the countless others in existence. She found Nikki at the end of that world and reset time to the day Nikki first received the Heart of Infinity.
Issue 30: Holy major lore dump, what is this doing in a prologue?
Issue 31: I see that it's not a gacha game without the protagonist having a case of
✴.·´¯`·.·★ 🎀𝓪𝓶𝓷𝓮𝓼𝓲𝓪🎀 ★·.·`¯´·.✴
[EXT] Nikki asks why does she still has the final memories from the last world when she can't remember anything before that. did The Seer awakened her final memories from the last world. The Seer jokes that she was lonely without Nikki and want Nikki to remember her. Then, she says Nikki possesses the ability to shape the destiny of worlds, and therefore she must return here, the Sea of Stars. A world perished opens a path to another world in the endless Sea of Stars, as it did for The Seer.
Issue 32: Gosh darn it, English localisation! Thank goodness I understand Chinese, or I would be thinking The Seer deflects her question for some reason. Furthermore, English localisation not saying The Seer awakened Nikki's memories causes questions like how Nikki was still in the last world and how did that world still exist.
Note:
Nikki's sentence in English: "So, I can't remember the past? Then why do I have my final memories from the last world?
Nikki's sentence in Chinese: "所以，我遗忘了很多过去？可为什么你又唤醒了我在上个世界最后的回忆……"
Nikki's sentence directly translated from Chinese: "So, I forgot a lot of the past? Then why did you awaken my final memories from the last world..."
Note: Now we know for sure that the entire intro was a memory. For existing/returning players, Nikki remembers the past and ends up in the Sea of Stars because The Seer wants her to. For new players, there was simply nothing going on for a long time between the destruction of the last world and Nikki's current consciousness. The issues I present here are all still valid and needs fixing, such as the unnecessary replacement of the prologue, but I don't think it's a retcon in terms of the lore and the existing/returning player perspective of the story.
[NEW] The Seer explains that the Sea of Stars is the culmination of all things exist as one, bridging the infinite worlds and possibilities, each represents a star. Nikki still doesn't understand. The Seer reassures Nikki, saying that even though she has been here for who knows how long, she still can't unravel all of its mysteries.
[NEW] The Seer says there's only one thing Nikki must understand, is that Nikki possesses the ability to shape the destiny of worlds, that's why The Seer rescued her and give her the chance to start anew. A world perished opens a path to another world in the endless Sea of Stars, as it did for The Seer.
Note: So, The Seer was another version of Nikki? 🤔
[EXT] The Seer says there's only one thing Nikki must understand, is that the power of Sea of Stars transcends the birth and death of worlds, and it offers the chance to start anew.
Note: To sum this up, just so to make it extra clear, the previous world of new players was not the current world of existing/returning players, but it was the same as the previous world of existing/returning players, the world of existing/returning players is not being reset as it was already reset in the beginning, the world of new and existing/returning players is the same, and Sea of Stars can be seen as the hub of worlds.
[NEW] [EXT] Nikki blames herself for the destruction of that world, and she feels her head hurt again. (It's the first time for [EXT].) The Seer tells her to not overthink it, as she didn't summon her to only watch her suffer. The Seer then offers to show her around the Sea of Stars.
[NEW] [EXT] The Seer tells Nikki to look at her hand. Nikki raises her hand and notices she's wearing the Starbell, she remembers that The Seer used it before. The Seer says that it's a gift to Nikki, then teaches her how to gather a starlight. Nikki acquired a sketch from it and crafted the Starhaze, the headpiece of the Sea of Stars outfit. With The Seer's power, she let Nikki try out the full outfit for a short time.
[NEW] [EXT] Nikki tells The Seer that she heard a strange sound from somewhere deep within her when she was acquiring the sketch, which made her feel scared. She asks what's happening to her heart and what is her connection to the destruction of the previous world. The Seer reveals that the Heart of Infinity already taken control of Nikki and consuming everything when Nikki was found.
Issue 33: A bit of time paradox for existing/returning players here. Nikki already has the Heart of Infinity from long ago, but we still saw her receiving another one from Ena.
[EXT] Nikki recalls Ena mentioned there is a cost of having it. She told The Seer that she has long sensed the danger of it, and it nearly consumed her consciousness.
[NEW] [EXT] The Seer ([EXT] and Ena before) still encourages Nikki to use the heart full of darkness, since it contains infinite power and a source of all things, and there is no other way. The Seer further reveals that she was once a girl like Nikki, but she has encountered countless failures.
Note: So, The Seer was another version of Nikki? 🤔🤔
[NEW] [EXT] The Seer expresses the bittersweet irony of the gift from The Curator, which meant to save the world, has secrets prove more troubling than the Sea of Stars that Ena didn't know. A long time ago, countless reflections of the world was created from the heart. These worlds are always gone in the blink of an eye, as Nikki can't help but to watch the heart devoured her and everything else.
[NEW] The Seer asks whether Nikki have heard of Miracle Outfits, Nikki replies that she can't remember but it sounds familiar. The Seer expresses approval, as she thinks the innocents often carry the greatest hope.
[EXT] The Seer asks what makes Nikki having the desire to look for the Miracle Outfits, Nikki replies that Ena told her that finding them would change the fate of the world, Ena also told her that one must continue to craft Miracle Outfits to truly master the power of the heart. The Seer affirms that based on her experience, Ena was right.
[NEW] [EXT] The Seer explains that it was the gods that created the Miracle Outfits, and those outfits hold the power that can rival the essence of the world. If Nikki can find those outfits, they may alter the heart and avoid her fate. The age Nikki ([NEW] will soon) inhabits still holds clues to them, but Nikki will be forced to use the heart because only it can resonate with them.
[EXT] Nikki wants to learn from past mistakes, but The Seer says that other attempts have known the past but still failed, so success is not guaranteed by simply knowing them.
[NEW] [EXT] The Seer adds that whether it's the past, present, or future, Nikki is destined to claim one of the Miracle Outfits – also called the Sea of Stars, which Nikki got to try out earlier. Nikki wants to know more about The Seer, however The Seer wants to keep it a mystery, only saying that she knows her profoundly is the one who knows Nikki the most, just as she knows that Nikki has an important companion that always travels together with Nikki. The Seer summons Momo and he reunites with Nikki.
Note: So, The Seer was another version of Nikki? 🤔🤔🤔
Issue 32: Another English localisation difference here, but admittedly not big enough that I would label it a new issue.
Issue 8: What a boring way to introduce Momo, and they introduced muh boi in a way that would make new players instictively shout "Shut the f'up, Pai***!" within the first five seconds of his appearance. 💀
Issue 26: Again, the lack of cutscenes. Is this game's standing & talking done better than M-corp's standing & talking? Absolutely, but it's still standing & talking with long exposition. This has been a slog especially for new players who are likely still super confused.
[NEW] Momo gives Nikki a tablet and a camera, says that they were already in his bag when he woke up here. Momo feels that the tablet is going to be important for them. Nikki turns on the tablet and registers her name. Nikki feels familiar with the tablet's interface, but she doesn't quite understand what it is. She decides to keep it for now.
Note: This likely means that Momo got the two gadgets from the previous world.
Issue 34: Isn't the camera supposed to be "Momo's Camera"?
Issue 35: Momo has a bag? Since when?
Issue 36: I wonder if the black boot screen has anything to do with the boring and half-baked Pear-Pal redesign in 1.4... (We really have to keep a close eye on everything they are changing from now on... 🤨)
Issue 37: Nikki's thought is unvoiced.
[NEW] The Seer draws upon the power of Sea of Stars and reset time to the day when Nikki first obtained the heart. Nikki then boards a boat to the border between worlds and the Sea of Stars and The Seer wishes that Nikki is able to find the answers about the world as well as Nikki herself.
[EXT] Nikki boards a boat back to where she was in Wishfield and The Seer wishes that Nikki is able to find the answers about the world as well as Nikki herself.
Note: If you choose to explore with companions instead of explore alone before the crafting tutorial, Nikki will want to explore around the Sea of Stars before leaving. Nothing that contributes to the story, just a few extra dialogue lines as they explore.
Note: If they can't figure out a way to embed story into a tutorial in a natural way, then they should just simply don't do it, and they didn't try to do it with the gacha tutorial this time. Another rare +1 in the Sea of Issues.
Issue 34: There's a camera tutorial on their way to the boat. Yep, still says "Momo's Camera", clearly enough.
Issue 38: The new camera tutorial lost so much soul compared to the old one.
Issue 26: You would have thought there's a cutscene showing time reset or Nikki riding the boat but nope.
Note: There are also three unvoiced side quests in the Sea of Stars. A quest to unlock custom styling in ability outfits, which is also a repeated tutorial of first three exploration abilities, and two spoilery ones about Giovanni and Ena which you should discover by your own.
✨ Existing/returning player perspective ends here. New player perspective still continues, so is the suffering...
Video companions:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhQBdses-Ns
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uvh9mmhxS8g
Nikki and Momo are transported to the border, where they meet someone. The person calls out her name, but Nikki doesn't remember her. The person remarks that resetting time has made Nikki forgot her past, then she introduced herself as Ena, the Curator. She then walks away, telling Nikki to leave the place and pursue destiny, and she will await at the edge of the border.
Issue 39: Hi, and bye for now. We'll meet again in a minute. 👋
Issue 40: In the side quest about Ena, it is clear that Ena is meant to appear as spirit only in the interlude, as it was always the case, however she's already a spirit here.
Issue 41: The Seer only reset time after Nikki is reunited with Momo, but here, Ena is claiming that the time reset is the cause of Nikki's amnesia. The correct answer lies in the side quest about Ena, which The Seer reveals that to give Nikki one more chance, Ena sacrificed herself the moment the past world was destroyed. In other words, it's another one of infinite fart from whoever wrote the new prologue. 💨
Issue 42: A Whimstar is right in front of them and Nikki wonders what it is. Then say nothing after acquired it. It functions the same as the starlight before, so it doesn't need another explanation. Making Nikki question it and then say nothing after just make things a little awkward.
A monster is in the way. Ena instructs Nikki to collect more Whimstar to craft the purification outfit. Nikki does as Ena instructed and purifies the monster.
Issue 43: No more proper tutorial for plunging attack.
They have arrived at the edge of the border and Ena informs that Nikki is going to Wishfield in Miraland. Nikki wants to know about Ena, but Ena just ignores the question and getting nostalgic about the Heart of Infinity. Ena then requests Nikki to change the fate of the world.
Issue 39: Hi again, it's been a minute since I last saw you, and bye again. 👋
Issue 26: No cutscene in big moments is such a shame that I have to point this out so many times.
Issue 44: Everything about this section is so bad I'm just labelling all of them in one issue and summarise them as "doesn't fit the narrative", and that's a nice way to put it.
Issue 45: The cosy part of Nikki games has been a honey trap since Miracle/Love Nikki, but unlike the prologue in 1.0, the current prologue doesn't have a good balance of cosiness and lore. In fact, it barely has any hint of cosiness. New players who are actually looking for a cosy game would likely quit during or after the prologue.
Note: This is the end of the prologue for new players, but there are changes in the start of chapter 1 too. I'm going to just focus on pointing out the issues from here on.
Nikki and Momo are transported into a town of Wishfield, called Florawish. A large building is right next to them, Nikki decides to check it out.
Issue 46: The transition from the border to Florawish is so arupt, that everyone I've seen playing or watching, as well as myself, went "huh?"
Note: The saddest part is, they could still make the duo wear the Threads of Reunion suddenly (cut the part of them being transported by it), introduce Ena as it used to, go through the Stylist's Guild Memorial, meet Dada at the end of it, and walk all the way to Florawish, town reveal, title drop... All without breaking the lore, the aforementioned time paradox aside.
Issue 37: Another unvoiced thought.
Note: Nikki enters the Florawish Stylist's Guild. This is the first time she meets Dada, so the dialogue is slightly changed, everything else from here on is the same as before.
Issue 47: Why does Nikki need two Pear-Pal? You know what, now that she has two PP, let us change back to the original interface, not the dark, gloomy, boring, and inconsistent interface from the past world.
Issue 48: Momo is standing on a stool just so that Dada can see him over the counter, and Dada only notices him after he talks for the second time...
Issue 49: Nikki says that it's the first time they've been that far from home, which is unchanged from before, but does she even remember that she has a home, for the new players? No, don't say it's the Sea of Stars, please.
Note: Ever noticed that Giovanni is standing far behind when Nikki is making a wish? It's not new, I just wanted to point it out. 😉
Issue 50: They managed to unfix the animations with the camera. Job well done! 👍
Issue 47: Why does Momo need two cameras? Is he going to attach one on each ear?
📸🐱📸
And there you have it, 50 issues of the new prologue. I didn't set out to find an exact number of issues, but what a nice number to round it off. What I find really unexpected while analysing and writing this is that the lore is generally fine, but there's still tons of issues of how the story is written and how they present it visually. It's insane just how disrespectful they are towards their own hard work.
I forced a friend who don't play the game to watch the new player perspective of the new prologue. The following is what they think of it.
I've also watched some creators playing the game as a new player, they all thought more or less the same thing. It may be fine for a low budget mobile game to randomly mess with the main story, but this is not one of those games.
Whenever a content is removed, there's always someone who would complain. Removing the new prologue to bring back the old one would surely invite lore nerds to complain about removing lore. Keeping the old prologue remove and... well, we're here. There's a solution to this: Why Not (Have) Both?™ ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I said that the prologue for new players can still contain most of the old prologue, but that's not enough to fix most issues I've presented here. A remake of the new prologue story would be nice, but it would take a long time and a lot of their resources. Here's what I think they can do to fix them and make everyone happy in a time-efficient manner.
In the next 1-2 versions:
In the next 2-3 versions:
Some issues – most notably the time paradox – will still exist, but few small issues are better than 50, don't you agree?
Special thanks:
If you agree that it needs change, remember to express your dissatisfaction in the upcoming survey. Also, feel free make videos or stream your reaction of this. I'd love to see more people talking about this in depth.
Lastly, I want to express the following in Chinese to get my feelings directly across to the dev team.
我只玩暖５，从未骂过公司。很多不满的地方也因为这是公司第一大作而很宽容的去看待，就连最近套装问题也没什么去理。但作为一个故事向玩家，我不能容忍看着剧情被乱改。可以随时乱改的话玩下去也没什么意义了，所以在还没有退坑的念头之下想痛骂一顿…
狗叠，你给我快改回去啊啊啊啊啊！！！！！
问题都给我一个个仔细地揪出来了，觉得合理有效的解决方案也提议了。你真是为玩家想的话就必须吸取教训，也必须好好修正！让玩家看到你们确实不只是为金钱而在乎这项目的。
I saw a video recently of a new player reacting to the old intro/initial gameplay and it helped him actually understand how to play the game unlike the new version. He was confused and overwhelmed by the update.
so much of this
I'm a relatively new player, having started with Infinity Nikki around the Erie Season, so I don't really have any past experience with Nikki or the Sea of Stars dress. Regardless, I was getting so hyped for it because the old players getting so excited for it was really contagious.
Then we just start getting parts of the dress every few days and it's super easy to craft and just... eh?
Like don't get me wrong, I'm glad the dress doesn't take as much effort as the Silvergale outfit. That being said, the feeling of accomplishment I got from completing that dress grossly overshadows the effort it takes to get the sea of stars outfit. The only "challenge" to getting it is just a hard timelock.
Like I don't even think the dress necessarily needs as much effort to complete as the aurosa outfit, but it just feels like we're getting this really important dress with absolutely no fanfare whatsoever. Even just some minigame challenges to unlock it I think would have felt more rewarding than being timelocked.
Yeah, for me this is also one of the main problem with the story so far.
Sea of Star is a dress you see in Love nikki and Shining nikki, and is originally created by Nikki herself, but it's not really knew so a legend said that it was a gift from a god to humans.
The problem with Infinity Nikki is the importance of designers I think, or link of the outifs with the lore of the story/ land they're in. In Love nikki, all set of clothes were deeply connected with the 7 nations that existed before (that are equivalent with the new regions now, like Apple federation is Florawish, the upcoming empire of light is the north kingdom etc).
In Shining nikki, they add a really interesting layer with saying that all set of clothes are designed by NPC in games (like if Dada or Giovanni were designers. And Dada is one, if I remember right, but we don't see any of her creations), because designing was equal to power, and the importance you will have in this world. It's also sometimes super important in the lore, like with a character named Lilith, who design only sexy clothes because she's insecure and want to receive love above all else, and for her the only way she found out to receive that was to sexualise herself (and she's 16... yeah there's some heavy plot in SN haha).
In Infinity nikki, the outifs in the banner just appear magically most of the time, the miracle outifs have no deep lore and are not connected to characters or the world or whatever, and the only outifs that have some kind of story are the one piece design you find out after opening a chest or helping a NPC.
That the Sea of Star outif, that a lot of players love, is just falling into the ground like magic here is so ridiculous I don't even know what to say. For this instance I would love to be a new player because at least I would not think ot the missing opportunies of lore here
So, they've finally acknowledged the issue[infinitynikki.infoldgames.com], but only just. Before I share my opinions regarding what Papergames said about the prologue, I want to first offer my retranslation of the part where they acknowledge various issues, because Infold's English translation managed to confuse people a little more than it should. It steers a little more towards the usual "less sincere and clarity" English PR response, and that happened in the last apology letter as well. Don't get me wrong, the gist is the same, but I'm going to retranslate it in a more literal way, even down to punctuations, so there's more clarity of what is actually being said by the dev team.
Alright, let's get down to business. This is a thread about the prologue, so I'm going to focus on that. First off, they claimed that the old prologue was never meant to be removed, this is believable to an extent. As explained before, the existing/returning player perspective of the new prologue is not a retcon. As for the new player perspective, there's that crazy mess of a part that includes Ena, which is by far the part where it got rushed out the most as that part simply makes no sense, and I'm guessing that was the part that was meant to be a second rework of Threads of Reunion storyline, based on what they said further down the line.
They somewhat addressed to people who mistakenly thinking that everything is retconned, but they missed the real problem: players do not want to see changes to things that were perfectly fine before, especially when the changes – I'm going to be real blunt – suck arse. It sucked in 1.2, now it sucks much worse in 1.5. Just... turn back. Please. Everyone is asking for this.
Continuing on, they said that the red dress is still going to be released. I'll be honest, I personally don't really care whether they will ever make the dress available or not. It'd be cool if they do, but I just want the old prologue back, the way it was back on launch.
Finally, they basically admitted that because they rushed 1.5 out, they failed to merge the two prologues together. There are two issues on this. If that's all they have to say about the prologue, why didn't they just say so earlier? Few of us had the feeling that 1.5 as a whole was going to be at least a little rushed out, with how close between the days of the special broadcasts and the launch day of 1.5, and the lack of information were given. The Chinese broadcast in particular could be described as near disaster, with connection dropping left and right and the replay wasn't published for a couple days.
Secondly – gosh, I hope I'm wrong about this – it sounds like they are not backing down with current setup, and based on what we have now, they are going to change the prologue for the third time. Third! It's madness! Are they really going to endlessly change the prologue? Are a significant portion of players' money just going to be dump on the prologue eternally?
Okay, let's back down a bit, and let me be clear on this, they did not say what they have in mind for the future yet, but from what little they have acknowledged, it's hard not to feel that they are going to do exactly that, and I'm not usually one who make assumptions. I am genuinely more concerned after reading this. Once again, I'm hoping I am so wrong about this, and I hope they will clear this up as soon as possible.
If they are being vague because they haven't nailed down the plans, what are they doing? Nail them down now! Why are they still being indecisive when the community is vocal about it, suggesting solutions that are more or less the same for three weeks. I even suggested a mini roadmap so they can hopefully work on it as efficiently as possible, that should satisfy everyone, including the company's resources.
I appreciated that they have opened a special communication channel, but again, there are two issues on this. This is no roundtable. You know what can be called as a roundtable? Go live, talk to the players directly. Even if it's just bilibili, it's not a problem, someone will bring it over to the English community and translate it. The more troubling thing is, this channel is open only for English[infinitynikki.infoldgames.com] and Japanese[infinitynikki.infoldgames.com] players. Korean[infinitynikki.infoldgames.com] players don't get it, even[infinitynikki.infoldgames.com] Chinese[infinitynikki.nuanpaper.com] don't. I can't take this so called "Round Table" seriously, when it only serves half the player base.
When I first read the notice, my feeling was neutral, because they acknowledged some stuff and nothing much more, but when reading it repeatedly for this post, I found more and more faults. I don't know what else I can say. Such a unique game. A game that once set the bar high and reached somewhere no one has reach before. Sigh.
再次用中文说一声，也算我求你们了，狗叠。我不知道你们目前有什么打算，但我希望，也很肯定大家都希望你们不要再改剧情了，已经够了！就算你们把星海剧情像你们理想中的与重逢之约剧情完美融合，这不也是改吗？不说内测，你们已在短短半年时间内改了两次，难道真还改不够吗？你们三个月不改一次心里会难受、手脚会麻痹吗？
尽量照我之前提议的方案去做吧，有更好的办法也不是不行，毕竟我不是暖５开发者的一员，不是无所不知。只要把１.０的新手剧情还原，把星海剧情拖后，把新手版的新手剧情删掉，我非常非常相信，绝大部分人都会满意的。不信就把目前的三四个新手剧情一帧帧的再看一篇，也把我费心血写的一堆字一字字的再读一篇。我不想再看到游戏不断地在补修过往，而且越修越糟，永远不能前进。
要说的都说了，有些人跳槽了，但还有很多人选择留下，真心希望你们可以清醒点。耐心与包容都是有限的，这些我们都给了，希望你们可以去好好的善用它。