u/RobinBaskins

so, moma dropped. people shopped (myself included, this isn’t a preachy post). now the apps are flooded with people offloading sought after prints to recoup the costs of the newest shiny collection.

chococat resale prices are lower than ever. i’ve seen about 4 madras ecbs listed (for insane prices, but beside the point). tons of ditsy floral has now gone up for sale, which was THEE print if the season as recently as last week.

i mean, i get “one in, one out” philosophy, but this isn’t that. this is straight up fad behavior of chasing the newest design while everything that released just before it becomes old news. i find it fascinating in a dark way lol. i’m sure there’s a silver lining - maybe this will allow people who missed out on some fall release items to snag then for close to retail. but man is it jarring seeing it happen in real time!

It’s literally just marketing. The “boys” are products. Infold is marketing their products, their own intellectual property.

I’m not saying this in defense of a corporate entity, if anything I’m perplexed by the hysteria and anthropomorphizing of Infold like they’re some evil Boogeyman. They’re in a downturn, and these are business decisions made in the interest of recouping lost revenue as many CN players are still not spending.

I’ve literally never understood the pov of “throwing the boys to the figurative wolves.” And now that the cult is (hilariously) crashing out about missing a rerun many people, themselves included, were asking for, it’s even more ridiculous. “First Zayne, then Caleb, then Rafayel, now they’re sacrificing Sylus!” Uhhhh… no. It’s marketing their OWN characters by following the normal schedule, plain and simple.

To the kittens: ENJOY! This rollout has actually been very nice after a bannerless July and I like seeing every girlie get fed with some sort of solo, myth, or re-run. Fingers crossed September brings meaningful plot and quality of life updates (and most importantly, no Virkin-related nonsense)

If you ever needed confirmation that Virus cultists hate the game and its characters, just read the comments under Raf’s announcement in the main sub. They’re being unbearably negative and reveling in bringing down the mood of the launch in every way possible.

Some of the so-called Raf mains in the cult hate the concept of the myth, think it’s out of character, lackluster, etc. while knowing absolutely nothing about it. Fellow baby apples, sound familiar?

My question is, why are these people here? It’s clear they hate the game. They hate Infold, the company. They hate everything that isn’t exactly what they want, which ironically is the main trait they complain about regarding some Chinese players. What keeps them coming back for more isn’t hope, it’s toxic negativity and a hive mind that makes them feel empowered.

I expected them to swarm official social media posts, but now I’m getting irritated at the pattern of shitting on the artistry and concepts of new content, no matter what it is. For a group of people so concerned with protecting “artistic integrity,” they sure are happy to devalue hard work that took months of time from the team, including design, animation, writing, and more.

I’m very glad Infold continues to ignore these people and I actually hope they start cracking down. The behavior has been unacceptable, but now it’s becoming pervasive and it needs to be dealt with immediately.

This is mostly for my fellow baby apples but i invite the rest of my girlies to chime in, especially Zayne mains as his re-run passed not too long ago.

So, context. I left a comment under someone else's post, perplexed about the whole "Caleb is being sacrificed!!!" rhetoric, but now I've been thinking deeply to the point where I feel it warrants a whole post.

To the Caleb mains who are struggling to celebrate this card and are concerned Caleb is being "thrown to the wolves" ... why does that matter in any way? Like, so what if he is?

Are y'all good?

Caleb has an utter lack of content. This may just be a one-off solo card, but as far as I'm concerned, this is something we can enjoy as Caleb mains after an awful month of witnessing pure vitriol against Caleb, his lore, his trope, and his dynamic with MC. This card is poetic justice as far as the timing, and something that can tide us over until we move out of this funk that has overtaken the fandom.

This is not toxic positivity or delusions. This is asking a group of starving people why they won't eat a few bites of steak sitting in front of them.

I think some of you are forgetting that the vocal minority is irrelevant. They WANT this card to flop to bolster their delusions about the canceled character returning, when he NEVER will. Why on earth would you want to add to the negativity by saying the same thing antis are saying, which is "Screw Infold, boycott the card, let the card underperform." Like, if anything, that is what will further harm Caleb long-term instead of anything the company or antis could do.

He's your main. Pull for his card if you have the resources and the willingness.

These self-imposed barriers are perplexing me and starting to make me irritated lol. I think if you've been boycotting due to the lack of main story updates and all the other issues, fine. So was I - I literally canceled my Aurum Pass. But if a lack of Caleb content has played a big part in your unhappiness with the game, guess what? Now is the time to take advantage. Don't add negativity when we've had more than enough of that concerning our Colonel these past few weeks. Don't be WEIRD!

Love you guys. 🍎🍏

As I witness the other side rage on (last night was truly historic as their self imposed deadline passed by without anything happening) I wanted to just write a stream of consciousness post about Infold’s crisis communications, which is:

They don’t gaf. Like at all.

I made a post previously saying idk why Infinity Nikki players got a comprehensive roadmap after the girlcott and all we got was “Rafayel myth/Caleb main story/Sylus main story upcoming!!” and some of you here in this sub brought me back down to earth by reminding me that that was the roadmap essentially.

Infold simply doesn’t move in any other manner.

They address everything in a prior statement, and that’s it.

I’ve been thinking more about it, and it’s true that they rarely revisit anything twice. The Infinity Nikki intro, KoD… in both scenarios, Infold fucked up by disappointing players, fans raged, a statement was put out (whether on social media or via press release), and then content progresses so that the issue gets lost in the cycle. Fans either stay on the ship or hop off, and everyone moves on with their lives.

But Infold never walks anything back. They didn’t restore the Nikki intro, but they did compensate by giving players gifts to placate them. Xavier’s myth companion was never fully fixed, but they did patch him a little bit.

I think that’s gonna be what happens here. Infold made a statement, gave players “I’m sorry” gifts, then ran for cover to wait out the storm and put their heads down to hopefully start delivering on the content they promised prior to The Cancellation™️.

After all, the girlcott was all anyone talked about, and Infinity Nikki is as successful as ever only a year later. KoD deeply pissed off Chinese and Global Xavier mains, yet Infold got away with a lawsuit and silently patched his health bar (his power scaling is still messed up and they’ve done nothing), then those issues kind of got lost in the endless flow of content that came after.

Based off these existing patterns I am almost certain that Rafayel’s myth reveal in early to mid August is when regular content will resume. It’s straight up just how they do things.

If anyone has any reason to state otherwise, lmk. Because it’s not like a crisis like this is unprecedented. With Infinity Nikki, Infold/Papergames actively made efforts to suppress the boycott. Here, they probably are giving players the time to rage before straight up moving on from the situation. The girlcott lasted like 4 months if I’m remembering correctly.

CN girlies have been boycotting way before this happened, so I’m sure Infold is ready to move on and start making some money in the domestic market again.

This situation regarding Ventilator's cancellation reminds me of Infinity Nikki's girlcott situation from last year. As a person who plays both games, it's the only comparable situation I actually experienced that I can use as a lens to examine this current LADS fiasco. For LADS, I know both sides of the fandom are waiting on a company roadmap, even if they never mention Vegetarian again. In reflecting on the situation I cannot help but think it's odd that Infold's statement addressing the outrage around Infinity Nikki's many issues concerning update 1.5 was so much more comprehensive and illuminating.

See below: (SOURCE)

"Apology Letter Regarding Version 1.5 Gaming Experience

Dear Stylists,
Hope this message finds you well.
First and foremost, we would like to extend our sincerest apologies. We are truly sorry that we were unable to provide you with a stable experience upon the release of the new version. We understand that every stylist's love and trust in Infinity Nikki is something we must cherish and uphold with the utmost dedication.
With the desire to offer Nikki and all of you a more vibrant and colorful journey, we had planned various new content for this update—designing outfits in diverse styles, creating fun and engaging gameplay, and crafting unique landscapes. We hoped Nikki could embark on thrilling adventures across parallel worlds, discovering endless surprises and joy in Miraland.
However, this time, we fell short of expectations.
Following the version update, we received a lot of feedback regarding game experience issues, primarily concerning the DIY Workshop, co-op feature, and overall game performance, including issues such as login failures, crashes, and resolution problems. We have been carefully collecting each report and immediately working with our teams to address these issues.
We sincerely apologize for the issues that disrupted Nikki's dazzling and dreamlike journey.
Following an urgent review by the development team, we have already resolved nearly one hundred issues, improved the stability of multiplayer servers, and carried out emergency fixes for certain visual display issues. Moving forward, we will continue to monitor the game's performance to ensure these problems do not reoccur.
Below is a detailed update on the fixes.
Key issues already resolved:
1. Fixed an issue where, under certain circumstances, the client displayed "Initialization failed, please restart the game" and prevented login.
2. Fixed an issue where shared outfits were wrongly displayed as Nikki's default outfit [Perfect Start] in the [Color Lookbook].
3. Fixed an issue where the piece [Floral Dreamscape] of the outfit [Flowing Colors] had an incorrect category after glow-up.
4. Fixed an issue where interactions in the Heart of Infinity interface were unavailable under certain conditions.
Prioritized fixes and optimizations in the next few days:
1. Resolution setting issues.
2. Material and lighting display issues in areas such as Sea of Stars, Serenity Island, and Land with No Name.
3. Interaction smoothness and interruption issues across mobile, PC, and PS5 platforms.
4. Frequent startup errors on the PS5 platform.
5. Issues that may block stylists during quest progression, such as abnormal black screens that may occur during cutscene playback in the new exclusive quests.
6. Performance and experience issues in multiplayer gameplay.
7. Interaction and sharing experience issues in the DIY Workshop and Color Lookbook.
8. Ongoing optimization of the performance and visual effects of the outfits [Snowy Ballad] and [Crimson Feather].
9. Abnormal material rendering for the [Bubbly Bath] decoration on specific devices.

Additional clarifications based on community feedback:
1. Number of Pieces in the 5-Star Outfits [Snowy Ballad] and [Crimson Feather]
In Version 1.5, the Bubble Season update introduced multiplayer gameplay to create a richer, more engaging adventure for Nikki and all stylists. This idea also shaped the design direction of the new outfits.
From the early design stage, we intended the 5-star outfits to embody themes of collaboration and companionship, symbolized by the story of the ever-blazing bird sacrificing herself to save the iceborn mermaid. Thus, we introduced dedicated dynamic effects, transformation animations, and unique music compositions for these outfits.
In [Snowy Ballad], we introduced highly dynamic special effects for the pieces and special aurora effects for the hair. The [Crimson Feather] outfit was designed around the core concept of "rebirth," featuring a unique ash form appearance and different transformation effects depending on whether Nikki is in the air or on the ground. In addition, to align with the theme of the new version, we introduced multi-player features in the design of both the decoration item and dance move.
The [Eternal Snowdew] decoration now features a special co-op interaction, and for the [Everlasting Hope] dance move, we attempted to create a co-op dance mode based on the original dance move. Both the versions were developed with dedicated custom music compositions.
To enrich styling combinations, the total number of pieces for these outfits was set at 11. We sincerely apologize for the lack of prior communication regarding this adjustment. Moving forward, we guarantee that the number of pieces in 5-star outfits will not exceed 11, and major changes will be communicated in advance through official channels.
2. Duration Changes for the Mira Crown Pinnacle Contest
To offer a richer and more diverse styling experience, the Mira Crown Pinnacle Contest and the Special Effects are periodically refreshed and updated.
As each version varies in duration, the duration of each Mira Crown Pinnacle Contest has also differed accordingly. We have taken note of the community's discussions regarding the contest's duration. In response, we are planning to end the current contest at 03:59:00 on May 16 (Server Time), with the next contest starting immediately at 04:00:00 on May 16 (Server Time).
Starting from the next cycle, the Mira Crown Pinnacle Contest will be held twice a month, starting on the 1st and 16th of each month (Server Time).
3. DIY Workshop Design Intentions and Future Plans
The original intention behind the DIY Workshop was to provide stylists with greater freedom in outfit design and styling combinations.
We have received all of your feedback and are carefully reviewing the current designs to further optimize the DIY Workshop experience. In addition, for fully evolved outfits, we plan to introduce a more advanced dyeing system in the future, offering expanded customization options and richer visual effects.
※ If you have suggestions regarding the DIY Workshop, please feel free to email us at: infinitynikki_cs@infoldgames.com.
Every piece of feedback from you is a driving force for us. Your voices guide Infinity Nikki's path forward. In the future, we will conduct thorough reviews, strengthen our QA processes, and approach every update to prevent such issues from happening again.
As an expression of our heartfelt apologies, we will be distributing the following compensation to all players via in-game mail: [Revelation Crystal*10, Resonite Crystal*10, Diamond*1200].
Thank you once again for your support and understanding.

Finally, we would like to speak from the heart.
Version 1.5 marks a major milestone for Infinity Nikki.
In this version, we took a bold step forward—introducing co-op gameplay for the first time. We hope Nikki's journey can now stretch even further across the vast Sea of Stars, where every heart longing for warmth can find connection and companionship.
Every member of our team shares the same deep love for the Nikki IP, and treats every version update with the utmost care and commitment. We stand together with all our stylists.
We may have yet to build a world that fully lives up to your expectations. But we have never stopped running forward—because to us, Infinity Nikki has always been more than just a game. It is a dream built over five years, from thousands of sketches and endless passion.
Like many of you, we adjust the camera angles again and again to capture Nikki's perfect moments, and we cheer with joy at the beauty of each new outfit. These are not empty words. We have always held tightly to the original dream and passion:
"To make Infinity Nikki a world worth staying in."
That has always been, and will always be, our reason for loving this world.
Thank you once again for your support. We know there is still much for us to improve, but because of your companionship, Nikki's journey can continue to push the boundaries of imagination.
Please give us one more chance—to let Nikki's starlight continue to shine for us all, and to keep the warmth in our hearts forever burning bright.

Sincerely,
Infinity Nikki Dev Team"

As we all know, the Ventriloquist Cancellation Notice absolutely pales in comparison. Infinity Nikki players got an enforceable plan for the future, including fixing several bugs and setting the stage for player feedback. Although they never walked back the story intro change (which was one of the biggest things that angered players aside from greedy gacha tactics), I can confidently say that the girlcott eventually faded because the game became playable, we got more events, and there seemed to be a fair balance between free and paid content, all things considered - it's still a gacha at the end of the day. Basically, we got the QOL features we had been missing, even if Infold didn't roll back the story retcon that everyone hated.

I think if Infold wants to restore goodwill, which is 100% possible, there needs to be a massive final statement about their intentions with the game. No, this does not mean continuing to beat the dead horse (wolf?) that is Volcano. Just like Infold never put the beloved Nikki intro back in the game, I take them at their word that the wolf is outta here. Nikki players learned to cope and move on, and I anticipate the same will happen with the LADS community over time. I just hope the tail end of the cancellation notice where they mentioned Rafayel, Sylus, and Caleb wasn't the only roadmap we'll be getting for the foreseeable future. I would like to see much more than that.