Shining Nikki, the sequel to Love Nikki, launched globally on July 5th 2021. I’ve been playing since day one and have only missed a few logins here and there. It’s fun in its own way, but like Love Nikki it isn’t really about fashion. Shining Nikki is more fashionable in effect because of changes to the dress up system but for someone like me who doesn’t care about fashion and is more into fun and quirky gameplay, it’s a much more tedious and much less charming experience.

Shining Nikki‘s Story

Nikki and Momo go back to Miraland 680 years ago to save the world from destruction. Somehow something called “Designer’s Reflections” have something to do with it, so Nikki has been running around here and there spouting random crap about reflections. I’m not really motivated because I know the game will be running for years and Nikki will never be any closer to saving the world. It’s all about the friends we made along the way.

Shining Nikki is indeed considerably darker than Love Nikki and absolutely not something I would give to anyone under 15 to play. But a lot of the darkness feels forced and thrown in for shock factor. And it makes the gameplay feel even more jarring when Nikki has someone at gunpoint… then has to fight them in a dress-up battle wearing outfits that don’t fit the mood at all.

Characters and Interaction

Nikki and Momo are really annoying here, because if they’d really come from the Miraland of Love Nikki then they should be a whole lot smarter. Much less trusting, to boot. After the whole Bobo fiasco, they’re just going to let another random bubbly girl upend her whole lifestyle and tag along with them? And clue her in on their top-secret mission when they don’t even know her full name? And on and on it goes with their stupidity, it doesn’t even bear describing here.

Nikki will say “I’ve learned my lesson, I’m smarter now,” but then the next scene she will take a shortcut through a dark alley in an unfamiliar city, I’m like “Whaaaat?” She’s been led into a trap three times in the most recent Love Nikki chapters I’ve played, but she still followed someone suspicious to a deserted house and then drank the hot chocolate she was given. It would be forgiveable if this were her first rodeo, but she should really know better by now.

Some people like the ability to get under Nikki’s skin by “interacting” with her at home and in events, but that’s my least favorite part of the game. She’s just a game character. I don’t need to psychoanalyze her or hear about her many imaginary problems. And she’s so whiny and needy and indecisive, urghh. I preferred LN’s Nikki who just got down to business without whining on social media about eating cake.

Yeah anyway, the story is dumb so I just read it for lack of anything better to do. At least the localization is pretty good this time round.

Shining Nikki Gameplay

The core of my dissatisfaction…? I’m not really dissatisfied, but I’m not impressed either. In practical terms, Shining Nikki works like virtually any other gacha game. I could liken it to Granblue Fantasy. In GBF, you put your best weapons into the weapon pool for the element. In Shining Nikki, you pick your highest scoring clothes for the category (Fresh, Elegant, Sweet, Cool or Sexy).

What this means is that 99% of the clothes you will get throughout the game will be useless in terms of story progression or competitiveness. You will be wearing the same top-scoring clothes for MONTHS simply because yohaven’t found anything stronger. I know this for a fact because I’m been wearing the same Sweet Twinkle Twinkle SSR dress I was given on day one. I failed to get the Fox UR dress in the latest event, but if I had, I would probably have worn that thing for the next 12 months. That’s just the way this game works.

So although Shining Nikki’s outfits are less outlandish because of limitations on wearable items (5 accessories max), the dress up portion is much less fun because there’s a much smaller number of categories. In LN, there’s all kinds of requirements like evening gowns, army gear, rainwear, sports gear, etc. on top of tags like Sexy or Mature. Zillions of them. And there are also tons of clothing items in all kinds of categories. If it’s Bohemian, I’ve got several pieces I can mix and match to clear the stage, even without listening to Momo’s tips.

Some categories occassionally pop up in Shining Nikki, but they can be safely ignored in favor of wearing your highest scoring outfit. I mentioned in the post on Love Nikki that LN is also about the highest scoring clothes. It’s just that what constitutes “highest scoring” varies a lot because of all the different tags and the weighting applied to them. In Shining Nikki it’s a pure numerical value. This dress is worth 2094 points, that accessory is worth 800 points. Like it or lump it.

The similarities to a regular gacha game don’t end there. Shining Nikki has “Designer’s Reflections” which you can think of as character cards or summons that you/Nikki have to grind to get, then grind to level up, then equip to boost your score. And each Designer’s Reflection must be equipped with Concepts, which you can think of as extra weapons. These must ALSO be grinded for and then grinded up in levels.

There’s also peripherals like the “Bond with Nikki” feature where you the player (not Nikki. Nikki isn’t even your avatar, she’s just a character you’re observing) give Nikki gifts every day to grind up her affection levels so she can give you tiny boosts to your stats.

You also have to boost your stats by grinding Makeup levels by doing boring guild quests every day. But wait, there’s more! You can, in fact, you must also boost your stats by doing the Stylist Academy stages every day. And most recently they introduced the Idea Lab, another way to increase your score through – you guessed it – more grinding!

I’m saying “grinding, grinding, grinding” like it’s a bad thing, but it’s not that bad. Yet. For one thing, all that stuff doesn’t take that long to do every day. About 15 minutes max, more if there’s an event going on. Moreover, Shining Nikki can save attempts for you, so instead of for example, logging once a day to do 10 Challenge stages, you could log in once every 3 days to do 30 stages at once. Good for the busy player. Plus the stat requirements to pass stages are not too high, so you don’t need to go all pedal to the metal on the dailies if you don’t want to.

Pay to play? Free to play

F2P for life. Not out of any high-falutin’ principles but because I’ve been spoiled by the permanent bonuses in Love Nikki. Shining Nikki also has a few, but it’s a few paltry gifts once a week. I’d probably forget to collect them anyway, so there’s no point. Besides, SN doesn’t lock a critical feature like “Done 10” behind a paywall like LN does, so it’s pretty convenient to play already.

There are other reasons as well. SN events are mostly gacha-dependent, and I don’t see the point in spending money for the “chance” to get something. I don’t do it in LN and I certainly won’t do it here. Especially since in the most recent Zither River Night event in SN, I spent 10,000 pink diamonds trying to pull the event dress and never got it. Paying money on top of that would be adding insult to injury. I prefer the different systems in LN, many of which allow you to outright buy the outfit you either with direct cash or diamonds.

Also there’s just the fact that I’m not that into Shining Nikki compared to Love Nikki. SN is superior in a lot of ways, but the 3D aesthetic just doesn’t do it for me. Nikki looks small and emaciated, and the realistic approach means a lot of outfits look utterly ridiculous on her. Especially the Ruin suits, which look like bad cosplay.

And more importantly, because the way the scoring system works, as I explained at length above, you won’t use 99% of the stuff you pull for or craft anyway. Unless you are super into just dressing up and taking screenshots of virtual items, which doesn’t apply to me. Without appealing benefits for spending, F2P is best.

Let’s talk about some plusses

I realize I’ve been sounding a bit negative so far, so let’s tally up the reasons I’m still playing the game. I should have done this before writing everything above, because now I’m wondering, “Why am I playing this anyway?” The biggest thing is that it scratches my Love Nikki itch. LN veterans have already crafted everything and finished all the events, but the game is still new to me. When I run out of stamina after about 5 minutes, SN is like the LN-lite I while my time away with.

And the story may have irritating developments, but I’m still somewhat curious about where it’s going to go next. If it had more Momo in it I’d be even happier, but there’s no room for a comic relief character in a grimdark dressup game, so he hardly shows up. I’m sad.

And I like the Diamond Arena and seeing higher numbers every week. The usual “getting stronger” appeal of gacha games.

The Nail Salon was also fun for a week or two, before it fell into the same old “use the highest scoring item” situation as the rest of the game. There’s a nail art contest similar to the Competition in LN, but the rewards are meh and the scoring process is obscure so it’s not interesting.

…and… that’s it. Like I said, it’s just another grindy gacha game, and not particularly special to me. Still, it helps pass the time and it’s not actually bad so I’ll be playing it for a while longer.