infinitymoona

[infinitymoona]

happy chocolate bunny day 💐

[infinitymoona]

The Moonlight Witch~ 🌙

[infinitymoona]

The Men in This Game are Mid TBH

I am legitimately confused by the people who go feral over any and every dude in this game. Maybe I just don't like the way men are stylized in this game, but I feel like most of the men aren't really my type at all. They're just kinda there to me and there's nothing wrong with that I guess. This is just one of those games that's just about the girlies for me.

I feel like whenever we see a new male character the subreddit goes feral over them and I just don't see it. Like, none of the guys are interesting aesthetically or in terms of personality to me. I'm especially so confused by Giovanni. Like I feel like I'm missing something for real. He's just a conventionally attractive dude with white hair who's also kinda evil. Or at least a bad guy, I think I already forgot what his plot line was. He just didn't leave an impression on me.

I like Tan Youyou well enough, he's pretty cool. He didn't leave much of an impression on me either. He has kinda a fun personality. Maybe I'm just so used to media where characters have super over the top personalities that characters who act a little more muted and normal just fall flat for me. I do really like his design though. I prefer the kinda cuter, softer features he has. And his outfit is really nice, even if it's weirdly significantly more detailed than most other important NPCs.

Marques Jr. Is pretty cool I guess. I actually never realized that he ran the boutique in Florawish. Like, I for real didn't know he existed until the Fireworks Isles Quest. He just looks like a standard npc tbh. Is that intentional? Am I dumb for that? I felt like I had no reason to think that he was important until then. Anyway, his little story line was very nice. And his Fireworks Knight outfit is very nice. I really like that version of him, it makes him look like a prince. Honestly I'm a little conflicted about my opinion on how people see him because I can't tell if he's a minor or not? I'm just not going to think about it and assume he's an adult like most of the other unique/important NPCs.

Masked Guy from this patch. I already forgot his name. Uhhhh, he was there? Like I actually don't have anything to say about him he was for real just there and I don't even remember any of his lines or his personality. I do remember that people in the subreddit were going nuts taking pictures of him. I don't even think the mask was sexy or anything he was just a dude.

I guess I'm surprised because I feel like I get fictional crushes so often. Well, the rate I get fictional crushes has been slowing significantly over the years but still. I think it's the more realistic leaning artstyle that's making me not like these dudes? The problem I have with styles in games that try to be really realistic, is that they just can't do it well enough. No matter what you just can't make a realistic game that doesn't look kinda uncanny at points if not most of the time. Nikki herself avoids this by having a more cutesy typical anime face that I kind of wish more of the NPCs adopted. I may never find a guy in this game that looks truly attractive to me because of the art style.

Honestly it's the same reason I've never tried Love and Deepspace. I hear it's a great game but I can't get over how uncanny the art style looks to me. Also off topic but who was going to tell me that game has genshin style combat???

[infinitymoona]

I got the shawl from Spectral Mist in 20 pulls wooooo! I know I'm not pulling for anything next patch, so I decided to go for it. I was prepared to drop 100 so now I feel like I saved diamonds. Now what am I going to style this thing with...

[infinitymoona]

I Have Beef with Evolutions...

Because what do you MEAN the pretty purple evolution is locked behind the 4th evolution again?

I actually don't really care for Crimson Rhapsody that much. Like it's super pretty but it's a comfy skip for me. I like the black version but I don't like it enough to pull. Like, I enjoy the silhouette and the huge head bow so much but I'm not in love with the rest of it. I probably would have been in love with the purple version if it was any other evolution, but the fact that I couldn't get it even if I wanted to makes me not want to like it at all. Like I do like the long curly pastel purple hair and hair bow but I can't look at it and be happy because it's so out of my budget. Even if I had 400 pulls to spend on it, I still wouldn't because no one evolution, a recolor, of a dress I think is like B tier is worth more to me than an entire new 5 star outfit.

I feel the same way about the final evolution of Stardust Flare. I LOVE that long wavy bluish purple hair and dress but I can't even think about getting because up to 400 pull price tag. Like if that was the first color scheme I would never know about that Dance Till Dawn bug. You wouldn't be able to pry that hair from my cold dead hands.

I wish I had the expendable income to whale in gacha games. Like you can really say this about any gacha really, but when you can whale in gachas you get to play a totally different game. And that's not even mentioning that whales can also have a legitimately nice setup/PC build. And Nikki on PC Ultra settings is SO PRETTY. Like don't get me wrong it looks pretty good on medium graphics on PC but Ultra gives it the game this like perfect finish that takes it from pretty to gorgeous.

But anyway back to evolutions. I really wish that the final evolution of a dress wasn't so hard to obtain. Pulling for a 5 star dress twice in this game is actually just a complete waste of pulls because it's not like you're getting anything new from the 4 star either. I don't know what the conversion from the duplicate material to pull ratio is, but it's surely not one to one so that doesn't count either. I feel like the final evo should just be that you get a 3rd heartshine at 300 pulls. Still a waste but not nearly as bad as 400 pulls. And yes yes I'm sure some girl that sold her soul to RNGesus has or will get everything in like 250 pulls by sheer luck, but we don't care about her. She doesn't represent most people who want the final evolution. And yes I know they have to create the opportunity to whale to fund the game, but I also don't think that means I can't criticize how not player friendly this practice is.

Additionally, despite the fact that all things you can pull for in the gacha are effectively purely cosmetic, I think it's perfectly valid to criticize how they handle giving us outfits. This is a dress-up game, the aesthetic value of cosmetics is the sole purpose of playing. The value of cosmetics is significantly greater in this game compared to other aspects. Nobody plays Nikki games for the plot alone lol.

I don't even know if I would have pulled for Crimson Rhapsody if the purple evo was the first colorway. I think I just want to complain about the lack of purple. Although, I guess that the less they make purple things, the less I'll be tempted to pull. The more banner skipped, the more diamonds saved after all.

[infinitymoona]

Omg I never noticed that this dress emits confetti!

[infinitymoona]

My God They Finally Fixed It

They finally fixed the Dance Till Dawn skintone bug. I thought my bug reports were in vain but they were not!!

If you didn't know, if you used a non default skin tone with the evolved Dance Till Dawn dresses, Nikki's upper torso would glitch to the default skin tone. It was really saddening for me because I really like those dresses and I pulled for them. I filed a bunch of bug reports since getting it, and until now I was for real losing hope. I figured that if they were going to patch it when the banner was running they wouldn't bother until it came around again, but I have never been so happy to be wrong!!

Sadly I don't have much time to play Nikki this week but I can't wait to play with this dress again when I do have time! I looked at it from all the angles and I'm 90% sure it's all good now.

I feel a little bad because I actually got really pissed about it again this morning and ranted to one of my friends about it. Infold devs I will never doubt you again.

[infinitymoona]

I Actually Like the Story and World Building

Hot take I guess? I really like the story and world building in Infinity Nikki.

I frequent r/infinitynikki quite a bit and whenever I see someone mention the story and world building, they hate it. I actually like the world and a lot of it's main concepts so far. Everything about this Miraland is pretty soft and silly and cutesy, but like, there's nothing wrong with that? I like that about it. I hear a lot about how people think the concept of stylists is stupid because "they're just fashion designers," but it's so obvious that stylists are not just normal fashion designers. The stylists are basically clothing witches! Like, no normal fashion design designer can create clothing that makes you better at combat or allow you to fly.

So what I get from the worldbuilding and story so far is that stylists take the power of Whim and use it to make clothes. Powerful stylists can make the most of Whim and make clothes that give someone special powers, ie ability outfits. Like, Whim is just a shortening of "whimsy". Whimsy and imagination are a source of power in this world and that speaks to me so much as an artist. I love the idea that being a dreamer and creating the things that speak to your imagination make you powerful.

I personally just don't need something to be super overtly dark for me to like it. Like don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with adding darker elements for depth, I just don't need them to get something out a story. I don't think the story in Infinity Nikki has been groundbreaking or anything, but it's sweet and serves its purpose well in my opinion. I really think that it's a nice setup and introduction to the world. It would be super weird if a game like this started out all dark and complex. I feel like a sweet, simple introduction to a story that's going to go on for years makes sense.

Going off what people say about previous Nikki stories, this one probably will get darker, sadder, and more complex as time goes on. I'm not like confident, but I would assume it will also because of the game's rating which no one ever seems to bring up. The game is rated T for blood and violence. I'm not seeing that at all right now, but I would assume it's not like they added a scene of someone getting robbed at knifepoint or something just so they could get the ESRB to rate the game T.

[infinitymoona]

Additions to Photo Mode

I think the photo mode is pretty good as is, but I think it could always be better, you know? My main ideas for things they can add to it are: custom setting slots, stickers, more toggles and options, more pose types, and more expressions.

Custom setting slots are self explanatory pretty much. I want to have some custom saved settings for different but common situations. For example, I pretty much always use one set of settings for photos in natural daylight, and another set for natural night photos. Just being able to flip between those settings would be really convenient.

I haven't played the other Nikki games in years but I think you could add stickers to your photos there right? Even if you can't, in some other dress up games I've played you can definitely add stickers to your photos there and I wish that was in this game too. I just think stickers are really cute even if I don't think I would use them in like every single photo I take. Cute little hearts, speech bubbles, stars, flowers, things like that would be adorable and add so much to what we can do with photos.

I really want to see more toggles and adjustment options. One thing that's been bothering me lately is the fact that handheld accessories restrict what poses you can put Nikki in. I wish there was just a toggle to put away your handheld in photo mode so I don't have to exit the whole menu and go into my closet and then back again. You can hide Eurekas already so it wouldn't be too hard to make that a thing right? A new option I would like to see is a directional wind option. It would be so nice to make the wind go in whatever direction you want. Left, right, and behind would be nice. I want to say Life Makeover had something like that but honestly I haven't played that game in so long I don't remember.

I want more variety in poses and expressions. One thing I really want is poses that are specifically made to interact with certain items. For example, we could have a pose where Nikki twirls the umbrella around. Or maybe she takes a piece of food out of a picnic basket and eats it. Or she takes a flower out of a bouquet and smells it. She could take a wallet out of a purse and open it. That would be so cute. I like the idea of nikki actually interacting more with the things she can hold. I feel like that could give photos so much life.

Finally, I really want more expressions that aren't just attached to the pose Nikki is doing. I feel like it could be in a new slot that overrides the expression that a specific pose gives her. We could even just have the ones already in the game but in a separate section. Like I wanna give Nikki the puppy-dog eyes from that one pose but on any pose. Even basic happy, sad, angry, laughing, and crying expressions would go a long way. I know Nikki is like a model and you'd want her to be pretty and nice at all times, but some dramatic "not so pretty" emotions would still be cool in my opinion.

[infinitymoona]

The heiress 🩷

[infinitymoona]

A lot of things I really genuinely really like are not that well liked by most people and that makes me really sad. I was thinking about this because I watched the "I Don't Want to be a Magical Girl" pilot and saw it's reception. It's a really nice pilot. It was well done and really funny, there's nothing wrong with it by itself. The thing that bothered me was that it was more popular because it's a subversion of magical girl tropes. Which is fine, that's not a problem by itself, nor is the fact that people like subversions a problem. It just makes me sad that now subversions and "deconstructions" and sarcastic or edgy versions of magical girls seem like the dominant version of the genre now? Like it feels like while Pretty Cure, and a handful of newer shows exist, they aren't that popular among western audiences.

Maybe I'm just looking at super negative perspectives but I feel like people can't just like something that's not overtly super "adult" in earnest. Like I feel like some people just like Madoka because it's sad, and think it being all tragic and sad is what makes it good. I'm really bad at putting into words why I like things most of the time, but that's not what makes Madoka good to me. While I think the darker elements give the show a certain punch, it's the fact that Madoka still wants to do good and make the world better after witnessing all these tragedies that makes her appeal to me. I guess I'm just stupid, but I resonate with characters that witness a lot of hardship and sadness but still want to help others and make them happy. Not that I'm saying I've ever gone through anything close to what someone like Madoka or Duck from Princess Tutu have been through. Maybe it's because I haven't had that much hardship in my life that I don't respond that well to sad, jaded characters or versions of things I like.

I also feel this way with non magical girl related things I like. For example, Infinity Nikki. At first I thought all the "I'm a guy and I like this game" and "This is pretty good for a dress up game" sort of sentiments and jokes were funny, but after a while I just got sad that people who don't like this sort of thing just see Infinity Nikki as a "namby-pamby stupid pink girly game." It's not stupid it's a genuinely well crafted and thought out game. I know dress up games aren't for everyone, but I wish that people didn't just straight up look down on the genre like it's just trash taking up the space of "real games". Like I imagine if someone figured out how to subvert the concept of a dressup game and make it "hardcore" and edgy so many people would lap it up and put down the things that inspired it at the same time....

Maybe I'm just a stupid kid and I need to grow up and like real grown up things like everyone else my age.

[infinitymoona]

Little Star ✨

[infinitymoona]

Thank you Tumblr for Big Character Limits

Thank you tumblr for having such a massive character limit. I can finally, unapologetically be my most authentic yapper self without having to split my rants into multiple tweets. I could learn how to speak more concisely but I have much more fun word vomiting into my keyboard without a care in the world.

[infinitymoona]

Ability Outfits and Special Effects are Meh

I really wish you didn't need to wear all of an outfit to use its ability or special effect. By special effect I mean things like the scales that pop up in the rain when you wear Daughter of the Lake, or the picnic basket changing when you wear Whispers of Bliss. Things that make that outfit special but don't have true Whimsicality Abilities like Enduring Bond or Dreamy Glimmer. Anyway, the fact that I know I need to wear all of an outfit to appreciate the effect just makes me even more picky about whether I like it enough to pull. There's always a couple of things about an outfit I'd want to change when wearing it around. Normally hair.

I'm not a fan of short or most updo hairstyles in the game. And I'm not even considering color. I really want more long and wavy, dark purple, and black hair styles. I have a handful of hairstyles I use on my Nikki because I'm so picky about them. Anyway, even if I like most of an outfit outside of the hair like Whispers of Bliss, because I had to change that one thing about the outfit, I don't get to enjoy the special effect anymore and that sucks. I really like Whispers of Bliss, except the hair. Sure it's purple and kind of cute but I don't like the fringe and how thin the strands are. I think the picnic basket changing is a super cute idea, and the fact that it makes the picnic blanket change too is also super cool. But none of that matters because I can only use it on that one outfit. I will literally never use the full exact set again after I tried it the first time. At that point why have it in the game?

I think needing to wear the entire set is a dumb restriction that heavily reduces creativity. I would use the picnic basket all the time if I could use it's effects with other items. Players could make all kinds of creative photos with it, but no. If you want to see that special effect and take pictures with it, you have to use this one specific outfit. It's such a jarring and strange choice considering how much creative freedom the game generally gives you. If I didn't just like most of the outfit I would not have pulled for it. In fact, I haven't pulled for most outfits with abilities and effects I find really cool, because I know I would never actually use them.

I feel like it would be such a simple and logical change to allow you to at least use whimsicalities and special effects with some different items. At the very least, tie the use of the ability/effect to a single item instead of an entire outfit. Or better yet, some of these could simply be made into a photo prop once you complete the set. I would be way more temped to get something like Dreamy Glimmer if I could just use the bubble blowing ability with any outfit I wanted after completing the set. I would have gone nuts using the bubbles with all my outfits. But since I can't do that, it just becomes another outfit that might as well have no special ability.

I'm assuming that since most if not all whimsicalities are gacha outfits they can't retroactively change those. However, I hope that they see that people want to use these effects with other outfits and be creative and change the restrictions on future sets. I just can't overstate how annoyed needing the full set makes me. I hate it when games that are supposed to be about making new things out of the tools the game gives you randomly and arbitrarily limit you.

[infinitymoona]

Sweet Silly Schoolgirl 🩷

(She's totally not in the anime club)

[infinitymoona]

Lavender maiden 🪻

[infinitymoona]

Let's go have a picnic by the flowers~ 🪻