progression and objectives are inzoi’s #1 problem

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please read until the end.*

i think this is what i’ve talked about the most on this forum and on discord, but i’ll say it again because with the launch of paralives it’s even more obvious: the problem with inzoi is SYSTEMIC, NOT a lack of variety, NOT a lack of content, NOT a lack of things to do. there’s no objectives for doing things, there’s no progression either because money loses value fast and the game helps you whether it’s through welfare subsidies, with a fully furnished house, with a gifted business, with fully furnished businesses, with free public transport, with free walls, with cheap personal transport, you can have money easily just by asking people for it, stealing cars and police fines are insignificant compared to what you earn.

what is the objective of inzoi? make money? let us start from the very bottom so we feel the effort of the process and the joy of reaching the top, and once at the top, have the challenge of maintaining that amount of money and not losing it all. like another user said: there’s no reason to spend money once you have everything and it just keeps piling up.

what’s the point of having everything unlocked in CAZ? let us earn our money and buy the clothes, let us pay for school, let us pay to enter lots that require an entry fee, let the prices of things and taxes not be static and instead increase based on household income, by adult individuals in the home, or by the total value of our assets.

add challenges, add attractive rewards, add missions, add OBJECTIVES that are visible and present once the game starts so a new player stays hooked. not everything should be linear and accessible, not everything should be unlocked. let the actions i do in the game have a purpose.

regarding objectives you can add objectives by age, objectives by day, objectives by generation, objectives by social class, use your imagination. and OF COURSE objectives should have rewards whether monetary, some special item, clothes, map areas, quality of life features, personality, voices, a job or skill attribute, a power related to emotions or needs. the more unlockable elements, the more satisfaction in playing and obtaining them.

look at paralives, heartopia or tomodachi life, the games don’t have nice graphics, good animations, or much content and yet they made something that feels like a game and not a dollhouse.

i love inzoi and i truly want it to succeed, but for that we need to rearrange priorities and know how to spot what’s really failing.

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I agree with you in part. The game does need more challenge. And I’d love to see all recipes needing ingredients to be bought/grown, or all hairstyles needing to be unlocked at the hairdresser or clothing items needing to be bought at the shops.

but looking at Paralives, I’m not sure that I want that degree of guidance or set objectives. Inzoi is a sandbox game; that has its downsides, it’s true. Sometimes it can be overwhelming, you’re not always sure what to do or where to go. But it’s also the game’s strength. The objectives and quests in Paralives gives the sense that there is an endpoint, at which the game is finished. Inzoi doesn’t have this; it’s endless. I’ve watched a few gameplay videos of Paralives and every player plays the same way, but again Inzoi is different. I love that Inzoi encourages creativity in gameplay. Its lack of guidance feels like freedom.

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A lot of people really enjoy just following the lives of their characters. Spending just a little attention on work, mostly dedicating themselves to rest, travel, swimming… Raising children and wondering what their descendants will look like when they grow up. Starting a romance with an unexpectedly met cute Zoi or even two, and then seeing who your character will prefer in the game. Often we think “I’ll marry off this girl to the neighbor’s son once she grows up,” but when they become adults - the girl can’t stand him, dreaming of some random acquaintance instead… And we can either let this romance develop or strictly follow our plans. That’s what makes it interesting.

As for a mandatory goal - a separate mode would be needed for that. I wrote about it here: [05.04.26] Встроенный «режим испытаний»

I’d also find it really interesting to play in it. But it absolutely must be optional! Only the player’s desire to choose some limitations for themselves. InZOI in its current form - this is, as @RestlessSloth correctly said, about freedom (just like The Sims, by the way). Creating serious difficulties could kill the game - a lot of people will be puzzled: why should I “struggle for survival” here when there’s enough of that in real life? :slightly_smiling_face:

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So what are your thoughts on players like me who doesn’t want a hard?

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Yes, we’ve already discussed this many times and each time we’ve concluded that everything you say should be there, but optional, if you want to attract a wider audience.

There are people like you who would want more difficulty, more challenges, etc. and there are people like me who love a very free and relaxing sandbox game.

I have no desire to commit to a difficult game or at least not for all families. I have a family that bought a house with a loan and isn’t reaching wealth quickly, in fact, they’re struggling quite a bit even though both are working.

On some things though I agree with you:

  • Building walls should have a cost. It’s absolutely unrealistic that it doesn’t
  • The same for buying clothes, Zois should have a basic minimum outfit and then buy clothes

As for objectives, it seems to me they already have enough. My Zois, since they live a long time, try to satisfy different ambitions one after another: pursuit of love (some when young act a bit like “flirts” and so start with National Treasure, others go directly to Smitten Partner), and then continue with other ambitions.

The flaw I find is that the actions to achieve the objectives are too repetitive.

There should be a need for greater variety of actions, instead of having to perform the same one 10/20/50 times.

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I agree with both sides here in part. I don’t want the game constantly holding your hand and setting objectives for you a la Paralives, but I do agree that the gameplay needs more challenge and focus. There are ways to do this while still preserving sandbox gameplay: let the player choose their starting funds, allow all the welfare stuff and free gifts to be turned off, rebalance building costs and reduce income from things like painting and criminal activities, and let players start the game without a home or living on a public lot. They could add some actual background to the pre-made households and set up pre-defined goals for them (which the player can choose to follow or ignore as they wish). Finally, redo the ambition goals so that they’re actually interesting rather than “donate 15 books to charity” or whatever.

Re-tuning personalities might help with this as well: there should be a lot more things which certain Zois are barred from doing due to their personality traits, like the flirty greetings for example. And I quite like the Paralives idea of restricting certain activities when needs are in the red, though I think they take it way too far at present. I’m minded to repost some of this in the Discord, as I think it’s quite important, and unfortunately there’s zero chance the devs will see or respond to it here.

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You know I’ve written this before, and more than once. Yes, I agree that without this, InZoi is still a dummy game. We have participants here - casual players, but it’s good that there are very few of them. I really hope that the developers won’t listen to them and won’t make another dollhouse. Otherwise, I, like most players, will simply leave the game. (Unfortunately, I can’t refand the game anymore):grin:

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There are already games for you.: The Sims 4, Paralyves, etc. Play for your own effortless pleasure.:upside_down_face:

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Have a safe journey :slight_smile: