🏙️ Is Inzoi the Next Big Life Simulator Game? | JumpInside 🎮

We’re diving into Inzoi—the upcoming life sim that’s turning heads. Could it be the next big thing after The Sims? Let’s break it down!

📺Watch now: https://youtu.be/5CneFlIlHwU

#Inzoi #LifeSimulator #TraxonMediaLTD

I recently completed the story of Persona 5 (not the Royal re-release), getting a little over half the achievements. It’s not my first experience with a JRPG with Lifestyle Simulator elements (I did play Fire Emblem: Three Houses (no So I’ve Finished article for that one, sorry)), but it’s only my second. I found it to be incredibly stylish, political-aesthetic, mechanically consistent, and enjoyable… but so, so very long. Spoilers ahead.

With no grounding in previous games of this type I really didn’t know how to handle the two “halves” of the game. You’re given latitude in challenging the dungeons over several in-game days. Coupled with sparse save points (how nostalgic!) and expensive/rare healing items you can’t replenish within the dungeon, there’s a clear push-your-luck framework. Do you have the stamina to get to the next save point, are you going to spend all this time getting part of the way there and fail, and how many of these rare/expensive healing items are you willing to expend to make it less likely you’ll wipe?

As for the second, Lifestyle Simulator, half, while there’s a dungeon to be delved you _can_ do some lifestyle stuff (hanging out with friends, studying for tests, eating burgers, etc.) but the game often interjects “Hey, are you -sure- you want to do that? Here’s an easy button to go to the dungeon instead.” It’s nice to be reminded, and there are some hard stops to try and keep a distracted player from going too far and entering an unwinnable situation, but it’s uncomfortable. So too is the helper companion Mona’s insistence in putting you someplace where the only thing you can do is go to sleep. If all I can do is sleep: just put me in bed already. Putting me in the room and having me choose sleep does not make me feel like I have agency.

Between the two it’s hard to figure out what exactly I’m “supposed” to be doing. Eventually I got the hint and did whatever I felt like, but going from more typical JRPGs like Final Fantasy XV, it felt weird to actually have freedom.

I feel as though I made the right choice playing it with the Japanese voice acting. Some of the voice lines have some of what I semi-affectionately call “anime bullshit” in them, and I’m primed to ignore the bullshit if it sounds like it comes from a Japanese voice actor. And it made the repetitive barks easier to bear.

Speaking of repetition, there are only like seven songs in this game. And 120 hours of gameplay. Yes, they do a clever thing and enrich the arrangement over time so it develops as the plot develops, but not nearly enough and not for every track. The saving grace is that all of them (except Mementos, which I took to playing on mute) are bangers, so I don’t really mind kicking into battle for the eleventy-millionth time to hear the same tune (though my wife started to):

Battle is an interesting change from other JRPGs I’ve played. Sure, yes, it’s attack and magic, item and escape. Take your turn, suffer the enemies’ turns, rinse and repeat. But there are meaningful changes that reinforce the game’s themes really satisfyingly. You’re a bunch of stylish, clever, thieves, right? So you’re weak as a wet paper bag. But your wit and charm give you your edge, if only you can turn the tables on your adversaries. Mechanically this means knowing the elemental weaknesses of the enemies (from the ten possibilities) and exploiting them until you have the upper hand. At that point you can talk them into giving you things (items or cash) or joining forces with you (hi ho, a-pokemon we go). Or you can smack them upside the head for ludicrous damage, likely ending the fight in one all-out attack. And if you started this battle by attacking from stealth and surprising the enemy? You might end the whole shebang without the enemies even having a chance to act. This results in a pleasant rotation on the JRPG battle formula: it makes more of a puzzle of it that rewards thoughtful play, emphasizes tension of the heist, and supports the game’s premise, setting, characterization, and themes.

It’s pretty good, is what I’m saying. And it looks damn sharp. I was worried going in. In screenshots and video the constant pulsing motion of UI elements, the arbitrary changes of font and highlighting of letters or phrases, the incredibly busy screens full of text — how could you play a game with all that going on?But no. Somehow in the transfer from looking at the game to playing it I always knew where to look and how to parse the information. It didn’t matter how busy the screen was, I could instantly get the information I needed. The visual density was a welcome enhancement as it gave me something interesting to look at when it was the fiftieth time I was in that menu.

So is what I’m saying is that it’s a stylish and cohesive game that everyone should play? Well… yes, it is very nice bumping around Tokyo (I want Tokyo metro in my life. Driving sucks.) hanging out with my friends and devising how to topple the systems of injustice unfairly and supernaturally holding power over us. But it gets weird in the corners of the systems.

Like relationships. P5 is half relationships and half JRPG. The reward for improving your relationships is tangible effects in the JRPG half of the game, lending you aid when and where you need it most. And the reward for maxing out your relationship is _never having to do relationship side quests with that person again_. Worse, if you’re then given an opportunity to hang out with someone you’re besties with, or even _in a romantic relationship with_, and someone else, it is mechanically more optimal to hang out with someone else instead (because getting more relationship points in a maxed-out relationship does you no good). This is the exact opposite of how the mechanics of battle mesh with and support the game. The mechanics of relationship building are in opposition to the text of building and maintaining relationships and their importance to the plot and themes of P5.

Social stats, which both fuel and are rewards for relationships, are another weird corner. In the late game certain events require you to have maxed out a social stat… only to then reward you with that stat as you progress. How this escaped testing boggles me. I can only assume the order you meet confederates was kept fluid until late in development.

And then there’s the game’s atrocious treatment of gay people. The “best” part about it is that the game pretty much ignores that gay people exist aside from two ignorant, backwards interactions. This game was released in 2016, c’mon. And for a game about fighting the system’s injustices, what would be better than fighting for equal recognition in a country where a majority of people support same-sex marriage despite it not being legal?

…which makes me wonder if the game really is about fighting the system. Yes, the supernatural god (it’s a JRPG, of course the final boss is God) convincing everyone to give up their free will for an easy path through life has been defeated and its hellscape earth has been destroyed. But the characters all need to put their faith in adults to “do the right thing” in a largely-unchanged status quo in the ending and epilogue. Mischief: yes. Reform: no.

This way lies the most resonance between mechanics and theme, for only this way does it explain why a cat telling you not to stay up late actually works on a supposed delinquent/rebel/thief/hero.

All this is to say that I found Persona 5 to be a game about aesthetics. Its veneer is very shiny and hip, and it’s willing to put lip service to a few interesting ideas. But when it gets deep in to the core it is more interested in preserving the status quo with few changes: to its battle mechanics, to its orchestration, to its social interactions, or to its world. It’s a game that could be mistaken for having something to say. But mostly it’s flashy entertainment.

Which isn’t nothing! It’s difficult to be entertaining. And it’s allowed to be “just” entertained.

But it disappoints me when something so much better was well within reach.

I recommend this game for fans of JRPGs and Life Simulators who have 120 hours to put into being entertained and can look past some blink-and-you’ll-miss-it hateful representations of queer folk.

https://chuttenblog.wordpress.com/2024/02/20/so-ive-finished-persona-5/

#jrpg #lifeSimulator #persona5 #seriouslyTheWeirdestThingAboutThisGameIsJustHowMobileAllTheseTeensAreBecauseOfHavingTravelPasses #sif #soIVeFinished #videoGame

2023-11-27 - Doodle - Muse-Sim

Un concept-art d'un projet de simulateur de vie :D
Le personnage est inspirée d'une amie très friande des piments.

~2h30, Marqueurs alcool, A8

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#traditionalart #conceptart #alcoholmarkers #lifesimulator #cooking #sideview #catgirl

Paralives, the indie life simulator that's taking plenty of cues from The Sims franchise, just got a development update video revealing that the game is planned for an early access release in 2025 on PC and Mac. #LifeSimulator https://gamesense.co/game/life-simulator/news/discuss/the-sims-like-life-simulator-paralives-gets-a-2025-release-window/

💡Prossimi giochi in uscita su Xbox Game pass
La piattaforma gaming Xbox Game Pass ha annunciato i prossimi giochi in arrivo per PC e console Xbox.

https://gomoot.com/prossimi-giochi-in-uscita-su-xbox-game-pass/

#abbonamento #cloud #game #pass #giochi #jusant #Microsoft #streaming #videogames #videogiochi #Xbox #battleroyale #lifesimulator #horror #deadspace #f1manager2023 @f1manager2023