Continuing the series updating the gacha games that sustained me in 2022. This time it’s Shining Nikki, the sequel to Love Nikki (which I prefer by far, but Shining Nikki isn’t terribad). I started playing it at launch, dropped it for a while in January 2022, and I picked it up again in time for the first anniversary in July 2022. I’ll probably get it again for the second anniversary, or whenever a particular double UR event reruns. For all its flaws, Shining Nikki does anniversaries and other milestones right with lots of freebies! The returner bonuses are nice too.
So I’ve played and dropped it and played and dropped it. Has my opinion of Shining Nikki changed at all since I wrote my first impressions calling it a grindy gacha game? No, not really. It is still a grindy gacha game, though not too grindy once you get a good set of concepts and reflections together. It’s like many other gacha games (Granblue Fantasy comes to mind) where you collect characters in different elements with weapons to match and eventually you get teams that are “good enough” to run most content. In Shining Nikki that means getting a good set of UR clothes, UR reflections, UR or maxed SSR concepts in every “element” and then grinding up extra stats like the academy and the… dream thingy where you strengthen your clothes.
Once you’ve done all that, say in about 6-9 months give or take a few, you enter coasting mode. Okay, I entered coasting mode. Your mileage may vary. In that mode, though, there isn’t much to do unless you have a lot of money to spend. Events in Shining Nikki are all pavilions (gacha draws) and very expensive, especially if you want to pull full sets of anything. Don’t let the game’s “generosity” fool you there: only super mega-whales, no, actual leviathans, can pull on everything. So you must patiently let most events pass by unless you really like the clothes or they’re really powerful.
There are some games where you’re advised not to pull at all on banners unless you can hit pity, but in Shining Nikki you can still get some useful new items regardless, so I try to do at least the free pulls and maybe a little more if I like the stuff. Random pulls here and there to satisfy the gaming itch are okay IMO, but overdo it and you won’t have the 20,000+ diamonds needed to pull the full set in a double UR event, and then you’ll kick yourself.
My record high must be commemorated with a screenshot
However now that I have enough clothes in most categories and the new stuff rarely excites me, there’s not for me much to do outside the mega double UR events. Log in, do dailies, do a few other things like Memory Stairway when available. Then… nothing. I got tired of the nail competition long ago (also I always bomb) and the stylist competion is boring and one-way (also I always bomb) and the Reverie and Blossom Plaza things they added to liven things up rather added more stress. I started to find logging in a chore, but at the same time I didn’t want to end up disliking Shining Nikki because it’s not a bad game. There’s a lot more to do in it than in Love Nikki, and the developers are much more generous with the free suits and frequent gifts. So the solution was to take another extended break and come back fresh again.
And so here we are, game is dropped until July or whenever the wedding event runs because I really need to complete those suits. Right now my regular gacha games are down to Epic Seven and Love Nikki with Genshin Impact being something I either play hard or ignore completely depending on how busy I am. I’m in “play hard” mode right now, having finished the Windblume events last-minute and trying to clear some Sumeru world quests when I have the time, so I’ll probably write about GI next. Then Epic Seven, then we’ll see about tackling some console or handheld games for the first time in… wow, when was the last time I played anything non-gacha that wasn’t Picross? Wow…
Great review!
I used to play Shining Nikki a long time ago – It was good in the beginning but they it got boring for me.
Do you know about the Infinity Nikki game?
It looks very cool!
P.S. I was crazy obsessed with Genshin Impact – especially when the Inazuma region came out.
The enemy designs were very good and the music was fantastic.
Kazuha easily became my favorite character.
Super fun to use.
I do know about Infinity Nikki, and I’ll be trying it on day one for sure. But a game that complex won’t be out any time soon so there’s no rush.
I still don’t have Kazuha. I’m always on hiatus or don’t have enough gems when his banner reruns. Right now I’m saving up for Fontaine’s archon, whoever she is.