r/InfinityNikki • u/Dragon_Manticore • 20h ago
Discussion Enough is enough
I get that shroomlings are important to the ecosystem and shroomseras were raised in ignorance on purpose but please. A whole *year* of babysitting the mushrooms is too much.
I'm not against inhuman characters in general, I loved the piecey stories and liked the faewish sprites well enough. The shroomlings are just designed in a way I really dislike, I'd have been way more interested if they for example went really into the fungus aspect and had their culture be tied to decay and strangeness compared to humans instead of acting like a giant preschool with only Shroomkrates and 42 bringing hope for the future generations.
I know their naivety was also a plot device, but if their way of thinking was leaning more alien, they could still be used by Mothis in my opinion. Telling the shroomseras that the rules are the way they are because it's a titan city and this or that is important for the titan race to follow for example, or contorting things to seemingly conform to the shroomling way of thinking could work out just as well.
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u/AboutTimeToDelete 18h ago
Im with you OP. I can't handle more shrooms either. when we go to another area infold will find another childish non human characters to tell their story. it's easier to animate the puppets than human emotions and people wont question the story decision.
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u/Odd-Mastodon-2032 17h ago
If we go to Cicia next and they are hinting at it, it's back to pieceys. I hope I'm wrong and they surprise us with something more exciting.
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u/AJtheSiren 16h ago
At least the Pieceys are interesting and have depth to a lot of the plot lines and characters that come with them.
All we get with the shrooms are infantile cute interactions. The most mature one is Domibaba 😭 the deepest part about their society is Madael tried to destroy it 😭😭😭 and they didn't really assist us with anything
Meanwhile with the Sovereign of Sexy in the Abandoned District, we got a plotline of a society trying to make people into clothes and the piecies trying to stop them themselves before they had Nikki join up!
I'd be happy to have them back at this point
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u/OMFGitsjessi 10h ago
Yea, I quite like the pieceys! Raggy’s plotline had me crying like a freaking baby and it had some of the most emotionally impactful moments in the whole game (for me personally). Giroda’s story nearly wrecked me too, especially once we got to wishing woods.
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u/ZullieTheGal 16h ago edited 14h ago
had their culture be tied to decay and strangeness
They do in fact have one (1) quest I know of that deals with this, and I loved it so so much, I really wish *that* was an Exclusive Quest for an entire patch, with more detail and cutscenes. Spoiler ahead for those who want a recap of the quest I'm talking about and how I imagine it could have been handled if it was an Exclusive Quest for a patch⤵️
So, the Quest I liked a lot is called "Dance of Farewell and Rebirth", it was one of the World Quests in 2.3, so easily missable for a lot of people. In this quest, we mainly interact with Sparcoco, a young Shroomling, and Natsyaya, who is Sparcoco's Eldershroom - aka, their parent. We learn that once a Shroomling gets old enough they start to hear the call of the forest and they know then that it's time to move on. They say goodbye to all their friends, pack a few things for the road and leave for their last journey - a journey to the woods where they were born. They go back there, find a comfortable looking spot in the soil, lay down, and fall into a deep (and final) slumber. The Shroomling in this specific quest, Natsyaya, plans to leave little trinkets along the path to her resting place, for the others to find.
I think this concept and quest was really fitting for the Shroomlings, and added a bit of maturity to their storyline and customs. If this was an Exclusive Quest, with all the extra bells and whistles, I think it could have become an outstanding one. Imagine a final cutscene showing Natsyaya walking through the forest, leaving the little gifts here and there, and then laying down and falling asleep in her final spot. It could have been a really emotional and somber scene.
Anyways, I just wanted to comment on this one part of your post, because yes, I agree, decay is a fantastic topic for Mushroom-people, and I wish it was explored even further!
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u/Leilatha 15h ago
I'm so tired of Nikki being everyone's therapist. She's the one with the most trauma let her have a break.
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u/what_freaking_ever 19h ago
The myconids are one of my favorite things in Baldur's Gate 3, I think they're so ethereal and majestic in an alien way, while also being very interesting. So I was REALLY looking forward to mushroom people in this game... But I am not leaving with any positive opinions, let just leave it at that 😭
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u/hanamihoshi 19h ago
The underlying messages on mental health and emotional trauma are actually really meaningful and I tried my best to get through all the quests without skipping the stories. But I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m simply not interested in playing babysitter to the Shrooms 😭
The fact that a lore item explicitly mentions that Lambda 42 didn’t come along because she wanted to do her own healing / look after the others at Heaven’s Reach gives me a sense of foreboding that this won’t be the last we see of the shroomseras 😂
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u/Verax97 19h ago
I won't complain about the writing, or the dialogue that goes on forever pointlessly, but I think we are due for a cutscene skip button. If I don't care about the plot that is my decision and I shouldn't be forced to sit there and watch boring cutscenes.
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u/Skylar750 18h ago
I am one of those people that never understood why would people skip the story of a game, even if it is a gacha, if you skip the story then, where is the fun, but with this game I get it, there is sooooo much pointless dialog and the writing can be so boring, give me a skip botton, I don't want to read any of this.
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u/Pimika_Meaw 17h ago
SAME ! I always get involved in game's story and lore, but with Nikki... all the useless side stories bore me so much :/
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u/juxtapods Strawberry Joy 💊 | EN / RU 15h ago
And they're all just positivity fluff, no real substance. Just "believe in yourself" crap (which YES, some people need to hear), but delivered at a 1st grade level.
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u/Arlandiaheir 16h ago
Same here as a Nikki veteran. I'm so heavily invested in the Story and lore of Love and Shining Nikki. Infinity nikki on the other hand has been a complete disappointment in that regard and it really sucks!
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u/RaineMurasaki 19h ago
I'm glad is filler. I don't get the obsession Infold has with kids and infantilize npc and why try to shove it on player's throats.
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u/Mailynn393 18h ago
I agree so much. That’s the reason why I felt more emotionally involved into the Boneyard storyline, even if I really liked the Heaven’s reach one too
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u/ShokaLGBT 18h ago
I think it’s more socially Okay to have the mushroom characters being sacrificed than real human children, reactions would be different but yeah they need to give us humans again
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u/EthSkyDaddy 17h ago
It's so sad because I was so excited for the shroomlings before 2.0... I find mushrooms fascinating (even though I hate eating them lol) and mushroom-people was totally my jam. I adore the aesthetics of the Mothershroom Woods and Dungeon...
But then we actually met the Shroomlings, learned they couldn't read or write, basially all acted like human kids rather than an alien specie... Saying I was disappointed would be an understatement. (Although I was pretty okay with the Shroomseras, because I can totally believe these artificial and coddled Shroomlings would never really mentally mature)
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u/Odd-Sink212 19h ago
I've been asking for cut scene playability buttons in the surveys forever! It's definitely needed. To add insult to injury, the way that Infold seems to infantilize players is ridiculous. When one of the very first activities for this patch's story was to pick two colored ingredients to make a green brew... How are we jumping straight from organized cult behavior and murder to... this? At this point I'm just here for the diamonds!
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u/the_flyingdemon 18h ago
Giiiirl when I tell you how I picked a wrong color for that the first time 💀 I felt so dumb. But in my defense it was a long week at work and I was exhausted.
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u/StabbyMcTickles 18h ago
Don't even feel bad in the slightest for that!! I picked gray...lmao.
To be fair, I didn't hear a word said prior so I assumed I was playing some match game and the gray called to me first. 🤭 Once I saw the 0/2 and the pot next to it I was like ... Oh. You want me to....oh. 😔 Haha
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u/Odd-Sink212 17h ago
We've all been there! I skipped through all of the dialogue so Pi telling us exactly what to do saved me haha
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u/OrdinaryIntroduction 18h ago
Because this game is only diet levels of dark. They want to make kids addicted to gachas so they only go Nintendo levels of dark with the story.
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u/Arlandiaheir 16h ago
Lmao, Infinity Nikki isn't even that Dark tbh. If people wanna see dark, play Shining Nikki.
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u/OrdinaryIntroduction 9h ago
I've heard Shining Nikki is darker though all of the stuff I've seen makes it closer to edgy teen dark. It seemed like it had the better story though.
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u/ROOKIE-ASHE 18h ago
Yeah I'm ready to never see another dumbass mushroom again, hopefully the 3.0 mascot creature is better
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u/Odd-Opinion-7528 17h ago
I think the critique is valid, but just want to bring some points so we don't throw the baby with the water:
they did improved in their characterization more. Non-human NPCs that have quests have more visual distinctions to what we had with the fairy wish sprites or the rags (I like them I just never remember how they are called). Which improved a lot for me to care at least.
this patch was more diverse in game mechanics: we got to stealth, investigate besides the 1.x find the spot in pictures mechanic which is something I really like. And for new players: it wasn't Always like this, for example, following NPCs was a mechanic that I recall only being implemented in the tide of tears update. So I would say they did put some love in this patch quests.
They are making some effort to tye with wishfield more, bringing Aventura and leaving some Easter Eggs for other characters. They probably can't do hell of a lot considering they allow new players to enter Itzland before wishfield, but they are trying to find a balance. So this patch doesn't feel so disconnected.
They did a lot more effort to connect the 5* outfit with the patch narrative in 2.x which was something that I always complained about in 1.x and this patch also follows it. However, we definitely can be upset about the design.
I think the game is trying to find the balance between a cozy atmosphere and a intriguing more serious one. The shroomlings definitely are there for players that want a chill experience and the parksolians are around for those that want something else. I expect to see more of this duo when we venture other areas: a more playful species and a more serious one. So I just adjust expectations and carry on. Don't solve your complain though, but I don't think this will ever go away since the game from the start wants to be cozy.
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u/Ghoulish_kitten 17h ago
THANK YOU.
Just bc I dislike the shrooms doesn’t mean I hate non-human characters!!
I love fantasy and differing groups of beings, this group is just bland and feels so… last minute for some reason??
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u/sadmochi_ The Seer 20h ago
i feel you. like i am ready to move on and just want to interact with human npcs because i already got tired of babysitting the shroomies 😭
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u/conquiary 16h ago
Very conflicted, because I would ALSO like a skip button, but sometimes the story doesn’t kick in until AFTER a few lines of repetitive dialogue has passed.
I think the Shroomlings have had their ups and downs with writing quality, but I also think it’s a little crazy to say that it’s a problem specific to Shroomlings. The dialogue in this game… is NOT good sometimes, specifically when it comes to Nikki repeating the plot at me as if I wasn’t paying attention 😭 Nikki HERSELF can be overly childish. And a lot of human characters have, and have had, really dry dialogue, so I truly feel like this problem of really boring or childish text is not exclusive to the Shroomlings. Maybe using a character that looks like he walked out of Love and Deepspace as a mouthpiece is enough to keep people’s attention, but not for me, man 😂
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u/Dragon_Manticore 16h ago
I never said it was a problem exclusive to Shroomlings, bit their case is really egregious. People also complained when Nikki had to play that kindergarten game of guessing which animal that man was pantomiming in the fairy grooming outfit patch, for example.
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u/conquiary 14h ago
OH, you’re so right, I’m sorry I phrased this poorly! I definitely mixed up with seeing that sentiment around in this thread (and in general, on the subreddit). My bad!
I agree that the Shroomlings are a really egregious case too. The early parts of 2.x were…. So bad…. 😞 And I do agree that there are aspects of Shroomling existence that are begging to be expanded upon, like you said!! I guess, I really feel like a lot of criticism of the Shroomlings feel like they should be written off altogether in favor of human characters. Like dang! I wish they were written better, but I still think they have a place in the narrative 😭
In another universe with better writing, I feel like Shroomlings could retain their naïveté while still delivering an interesting narrative about what it’s like to be a shroomling and how they move in the world. But alas 😭 Sorry again for misunderstanding your initial point!
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u/Aggravating_Pay_1313 16h ago
I couldn’t stand the pieceys. I LOVE the shroomlings. It’s been interesting seeing how much people dislike them! Reminds me of how I felt back in the abandoned district 😅
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u/OMFGitsjessi 9h ago
Yay! Glad to see the shrooms getting some love haha.
Any chance you would be willing to expand a bit on what exactly you like about them? And what’s different about them vs the pieceys that makes them more likeable for you? No pressure if you don’t want to, of course! I’m just super curious since I always see loadddssss of people discussing how much they dislike them but have only come across a few comments here and there from players who feel differently.
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u/Aggravating_Pay_1313 9h ago
I like the shroomlings appearance far more than the pieceys. The pieceys are hard for me to even look at. Additionally there are so many different variants of shroomlings. The shroomseras in heavens reach are my favorite design by far!
Unrelated to their appearance, I love what they stand for in itzaland’s story as a whole. We understand the lore of the gods and saintes now. Due to the actions of the gods Itzaland was essentially spiritually abandoned. I like the idea of a realm being abandoned or lost by its gods, and life blooming anew. Fungus are particularly resilient so it would make sense for them to gain sentience. While they can be incredibly juvenile, I always interpreted it as consciousness developing anew. They show they are incredibly adaptable and brave. I find it much easier to enjoy their company even when the content is super childish, because they commit 100%.
Honestly a lot of the characteristics I enjoy about the shroomlings could be said for the pieceys, I just cannot stand their design and the voice acting wasn’t quite as good back then 😅. I am feeling Itzaland fatigue as a whole though, and I’m excited to see what is next!
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u/eldritchcryptid 15h ago
honestly one of the main reasons i'm looking forward to a new region is so i can be rid of the mushrooms. i don't have anything against non human characters, i liked the piecys and the faewish sprites were ok but the shrooms? i can't stand them, they're infantile to the point its almost sickening. i get that there's a story reason for it but i really don't think they needed to lay it on that thick.
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u/plasticrabbits 16h ago
I was just telling my husband about how these patches feel very much like Nikki goes from saving the world to helping a baby mushroom understand that they didn't loose their hamburger, they just set it down on a table two feet away and got distracted by a terrifying butterfly or some shit. It's hilarious but also incredibly annoying and I'm fully over the baby voices.
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u/Winter-Tiger-Forest 15h ago
The Shroomlings do have mushroom characteristics. Like, if you drink water they have been in humans can end up poisoned/sick. The elderly Shroomlings go on a journey to find a place to decay and there was also that one side quest where we got the see the death place of a Shroomling and there were a ton of this one plant, because she had became that. While they’re simple and easily trusting, you also had to remember that Madeal was offering a solution to a problem she had made and they had never experienced. Abutata is less mature because he relied solely on his luck to do things, so when things went south he had trouble figuring out what to do but did try to step up. Also, all the Shroomseras are children. There’s not a single adult Shroomsera among them. Lama- 42 is at most a teen.
While they’re simple the Shroomlings did come up with a licensing system for humans when it came to riding snails BEFORE anything bad happened. They’re not completely clueless, just there are some issues they’ve never encountered before and need help dealing with it. I just feel like people are missing out on some of the complexity of the Shroomlings when they call the naive and childish. They’re mostly naive because they’re dealing with issues they’ve never had to deal with before. They’re child-like because they live mostly simple lives that they try to enjoy to the fullest and wear their hearts on their sleeves, which has to do with their souls and body being one.
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u/tapioca_miilk 10h ago
I've been begging for a skip button for cutscenes in every survey, I'm flabbergasted why it hasn't been implemented. This story isn't the Odyssey, half the time it's mushrooms asking you to find their lost handkerchief or something 😭
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u/Ahenshihael 20h ago edited 20h ago
It's almost like 2.x story is all about the fall of the old and the new replacing the old, and the responsibilities of those that came before to pave the way for those that come after.
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u/Dragon_Manticore 19h ago
And we're allowed to be exhausted after a while year of babysitting the shrooms. The parksolians also came after the titans and dragons and don't act like toddlers all the time.
And we should be allowed to skip cutscenes if we don't want to watch them.
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u/1kgkrumpli 16h ago
I wonder if the new mascots will be percieved the same way during 3.0. The community hated the pieceys just as much as the shroomlings now. At least thats how I remember.
While I like the shrooms more than the faewish sprites and probably even more than the pieceys I was still really glad we got the parksolians as a breather from them and wish more filler story would have been about the parksolians.
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u/sleepinand 18h ago
You can definitely have those themes without needing to infantilize an entire species to do it. The Parksolians deal with the same themes beautifully without us needing to teach them their ABCs. If a few of the Shroomlings were naive and easily misled and the rest were normal that would be one thing, but when every one of them with a handful of exceptions sit at the maturity level of an average elementary school student even as adults it gets difficult to take them seriously as a culture.
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u/Ahenshihael 18h ago
The whole thing about Shroomlings is that they are alien. They are outside the Cycle of Reincarnations, they don't accumulate knowledge the way humans do, they don't die like humans do, they don't even have souls. It's less of them being infantilized and more of them being easily manipulated because in terms of logic they don't function the same way humans do. They are game's best example of creatures running on logic and sense that's completely alien to humans so far.
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u/Less-Actuary-4520 14h ago
The writing of them have no depth! They add nothing to the game other than annoyance and I'm so ready to move on, or carpet bomb the whole place with their annoying ass and put them on a pizza. Like can we move on? I never understood why Infold treats us players like idiots that need talking mushrooms to tell us to believe in ourselves and cults are bad! I don't mind non human NPCs, but they're just super childish
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u/Kuraimegami_Rica 20h ago
I managed to click the skip button once ^ ^ for the first time! I don't understand why, if there even is a skip button, the button always disappears within a split second...
The story definitely read like a children's book 😅
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u/There_are_dragons 16h ago
There's zero chance I can emphatize with a damn mushroom, they ruined the whole vibe. The end of the story was so dark and grim, and then there's those idiots running around. The titans turned to gold and liquified! It's horrible! Why would I care for a mushroom that didn't want to eat sweets anymore?
My favorite shroom is the one in the camp that stands there completely lost and asks if he's just stupid. Yes, child, yes you are.
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u/bucketbrigade000 10h ago
I'm annoyed that we're running through characters so quickly. I feel like there's no continuity in the Itzaland storyline.
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u/Mountain-Elephant-60 4h ago
I’d rather deal with pieceys and fae wish sprites everyday than deal with a shroomling the ONLY shroomling I like is pi-47 or 27 she is quite literally our coworker during the baby sitting routines
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u/AggressiveMagician24 2h ago
this summer camp update seemed like a good send off for them, theyre all grown up now. thank god
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u/ChopsticksImmortal 2h ago
Ive said on another post, but part of why Shroomlings dont feel convincing is because their civilization has no internal conflict. Theyre a new civilization...but no civilization, not even new ones, are this hunky dory. Everybody gets along with one another. Nobody challenges anything about their own civilization or culture. All conflict is external.
At least the faewish had bigotry and pieceys have some sort of elitism going on.
And the whole philosophy portion...i cant take them seriously when theyre debating what "1+1=2" means or that you should just live life as it makes you happy. I GUESS. SURE. But theyre playing up this whole "oh we're thinking!" And every conclusion they come to is infantile. Its like im supposed to clap because they figured out they should do things that make them feel happy. Wow, very impressive.
Despite their civilization having been through some shit, its like negativity doesn't exist beyond a temporary sadness. It has no cultural impact.
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u/yeux_glauques 15h ago
when i first began itzaland, i got angry cause they are a potrayal of a "naive af dumb and primitive" indigenous cultures. racist, but oh well, that's to be expected from china.
the i lowkey got used to it, and the biotope is pretty cool.
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u/lavendersagemint 20h ago
They’re incredibly infantile, which I understand. But I’m ready to move on. 😭