For many, including myself, the initial announcement for Infinity Nikki’s 1.5 update was an explosion of excitement. Unfortunately, despite the many benefits that came with the update, there were a lot of bugs and changes that split the community. I want to shed light on just a small part of what the community is struggling with and give my own input on these changes.
The biggest problem I personally had with the update was the retcon of Infinity Nikki’s introduction. The 1.0 release introduction featured Nikki looking through her mother’s attic, finding dresses reminiscent to the ones stylists get in Miraland. Nikki is sucked into the wardrobe by the Threads of Reunion and finds herself in the place where Ena the Curator is imprisoned. With Ena’s last push of power, Nikki is given the Heart of Infinity with the mission to collect the Miracle Outfits to change the fate of Miraland.
In the new introduction for the game, Nikki awakens in a mysterious place with a voice guiding her to them. She meets a figure who looks similar to a personified cosmos, guiding her through a dying universe to the Sea of Stars. There, she learns she comes from the remnants of a dying Miraland, a fate that came upon the land because of her and the Heart of Infinity. This guiding voice, the Seer, claims to save Nikki because she is special. She plays the role of Ena in the previous version, pushing her onto the mission to collect the Miracle Outfits to change this doomed ending.
To give the new introduction credit, I would not be unsatisfied with this kind of beginning for Infinity Nikki. The underlying issue I have with this introduction is the subsequent change in Nikki’s character. As someone who has read and written plots about characters reincarnating or transmigrating into known universes, a common issue characters have to face is knowing the future, or rather a specific future. Nikki feels entirely at fault for the destruction of the other Miraland, and this proves a worthy motivation as to why she fervently tries to collect the Miracle Outfits to evade such a fate. However, it also means that there is an underlying guilt or remorse that comes with interacting with the people of Miraland.
“In another world, I was the cause for your demise.”
That’s the only thought I feel gets echoed in her interactions with this introduction in mind. It’s the stylists’ first introduction to Nikki, and for some stylists, their only introduction to Nikki as a character in the franchise. She’s not shown as a young girl taken from home, pulling through optimistically but rather as the remnants of a tragic heroine who’s been given a second chance. It can be compelling, but it can make her more cheerful personality discordant from her experience.
Although stylists know Nikki doesn’t fully remember her experience in that dying world. She remembers bits and pieces of its finale and her responsibility for it. That alone would change the way a usual character would see the world and their part in it. But, as far as I know, the rest of the story remains untouched for the main part. Her bubbliness and kindness is retained. That’s not bad, but it makes Nikki look as if she’s just completely forgotten about the previous world and her part of it. It’s one thing to be away from home, it’s another to be the demise of a world.
Another fact to consider is that stylists are already made aware of the multiverse or multiple timelines prior to the 1.5 release. For stylists who have gone through the story quest, Giovanni is revealed to have turned back time using the Wishing One’s artifact. He’s lived through a universe where Nikki never existed. And yet, her appearance in this timeline is what pushed Giovanni to seek her out and test her.
A story about failure and turning back time to try again. It’s a reflection of Nikki’s story in the new introduction. It can be meant to encourage Nikki that she, too, like Giovanni, has a chance to change the fate she saw in the previous timeline.
I won’t lie; it’s a cool concept. But my experience with the original storyline makes Giovanni’s reveal more impactful. Nikki is not seeing herself in Giovanni which is why perhaps with the new introduction she can better empathize with him. Instead, in the original, Nikki is purely being compassionate. Nikki doesn’t understand how he could have gone to such lengths for the sake of a better timeline. But hearing his story, she reconciles with the fact that not every person has good choices.
She’s been optimistic and kind, always seeking justice and wanting to fix all problems. But she comes across someone who seemingly tried all that they could and still failed. Nikki doesn’t see that failure, though. Instead, she sees a man who saw a chance to try again, that instead of redoing what happened in the previous timeline, Giovanni sought a catalyst of change. In this case, it was her appearance in Miraland.
They are still reflections in a way; a girl who went through her own struggles being away from home but remaining optimistic and bright, and a man who suffered through the worst of life and yet continued to hope. To me, it’s a better show of empathy where although circumstances aren’t exactly the same, that feeling of wanting to hope, to wish, is evoked with both experiences.
My last gripe with the change of the introduction is Ena’s part of the story. She doesn’t exist in the new introduction. Stylists aren’t shown a person of clearly high power and status imprisoned away because of the fate of Miraland declining.
Stylists don’t get to see early on how little the gods now play a part in Miraland. Ena can’t do anything from her prison to change the fate of Miraland, instead relying on a girl she meets with a courageous heart. Ena wants her to change Miraland’s fate, to seek out the Miracle Outfits to find out the secrets even the gods sought. It’s also selfishness in how she sees Nikki as an opportunity knowing a warm and courageous heart wouldn’t deny her.
The Seer only cares for Nikki and what little she can take from the dying world, the stars. Although she finds the fate sad, she is such an otherworldly being that it is normal for her. Universes die and converge at the Sea of Stars. It’s a cycle she’s watched again and again. But Nikki, this particular Nikki, is what made her take action. It wasn’t about saving Miraland. It was about saving Nikki for the loneliness the Seer felt apart from her. For as much as I can enjoy such a character, an otherworldly being devoted for just a moment for one person, I’m much more intrigued by Ena’s character.
Rather than seeking a way to save a declining fate, Ena asks Nikki to discover the secrets of Miraland to save the world. Explore, experience the world, and seek out the depths of Miraland to change its fate. It fits better with the overall gameplay of Infinity Nikki that is supposed to be cozy and explorative. In a game that is about stylists relaxing, living a life in Miraland to collect and gather clothes, the new introduction seems to push stylists to focus on saving the world, a fate that Nikki has already failed once.
To the developers’ credit, they have been upfront that Ena and the Threads of Reunion aren’t entirely scratched from the storyline. Although I see little chance for the developers to bring back the original introduction, in the best world, I would have loved to see the Sea of Star introduction included as another interlude part of the main story.
How cool would it be to be pushed on the journey by Ena to enjoy and discover, shown the harshness of Miraland through Giovanni, and then pushed even further by the Seer’s reveal that Nikki had failed before? I loved experiencing the Sea of Star introduction without knowing it was purely the new introduction. I went through the quest thinking it was an interlude that expanded Nikki’s involvement with Miraland beyond Ena’s request.
I can only hope that I will enjoy the new development Infold plans to bring to Infinity Nikki‘s story. In a way, despite my disappointment, I’m also interested in finding out how the story writers intend to integrate this new information into the world and Nikki’s character.
What are your thoughts about the developers changing the introduction sequence of the story line? Do you find yourself more intrigued by this change evoked by the Seer? Share your thoughts in the comments below or in our Boss Rush Discord!
Featured Image Source: Infold Games
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