Serious Issues with Cooking and Meal Systems

Bug Reports
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1

  • Game Version:

  • Platform: (Steam windows / Steam Mac / Mac)

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  • Hardware Specifications & Operating System (OS version, CPU, GPU, RAM, storage…):

  • Steps to Reproduce:

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  • I am currently unable to continue playing properly because there are many issues related to cooking and meals.

    Since the recent update, Joys automatically place soup on the dining table every morning and evening, or they cook large-batch meals and leave them out.

    However, I play as a warm, devoted mother Joy who genuinely enjoys cooking delicious meals for her family and children every day. Preparing food for my family is one of the most enjoyable aspects of the game for me.

    Since the update, I have encountered an issue where another family member frequently starts cooking instead of the mother Joy. In addition, they often call other family members to join the meal, causing everyone to abandon the activities they were previously engaged in.

    The behavior that bothers me the most is that Joys will autonomously cook expensive large-batch meals, eat only one or two servings, and then discard the rest. This feels especially inappropriate for a frugal mother Joy character.

    Below are some basic cooking and meal-related rules that I would like to suggest. These features should work even when autonomous behavior is enabled.

    • Players should be able to choose how many servings a Joy will cook, from 1 to 10 servings.

    • If food remains after a meal, it should be stored in the refrigerator instead of being thrown away.

    • Before cooking a new meal, Joys should prioritize eating leftovers from the refrigerator or from food already placed on the table. However, Joys who prefer instant food could occasionally choose instant meals instead of leftovers. Likewise, snobbish Joys could sometimes prefer freshly cooked meals over leftovers.

    • Large-batch meals should be placed on the kitchen counter rather than automatically served on the dining table. Family members could then help themselves whenever they feel hungry or decide to eat. This would make mealtimes feel much more realistic and immersive.

    • Leftover food stored in the refrigerator or left on the table should not be discarded arbitrarily. It should only be thrown away once it has spoiled.

    • Any family member can be responsible for cooking, but Joys who enjoy cooking or have family-oriented traits should be given higher priority when deciding who prepares meals.

    I would greatly appreciate it if the development team could carefully review these suggestions.

    Thank you for your time and consideration.

2

I entered my family today after updating to 0.9.3. If I cook a meal for the family or set the table and someone doesn’t make it to the table in time, that’s it — those who managed to eat clear everything from the table. I spent several hours trying to get everyone seated at the table and fed. This is very frustrating and exhausting.

3

This is becoming a serious issue and I hope it gets addressed soon.

Today my Zois, a family of three, ate two breakfasts and two dinners :slightly_smiling_face: .

Both the dad and mom prepared the two meals, one after the other, and called the others to eat, interrupting their activities.

By the way, the first dinner was around 5:30 p.m. and the other around 6 p.m. I know that dinner time varies a lot depending on different countries, but here in Italy it’s really very early as a time.

None of them had their hunger need in red or yellow. I wonder why this imposed routine: can’t we simply decide when and what to eat? The only exception should be when the Zoi has an empty hunger need.

Some dishes disappeared even when full, when one Zoi finished theirs, others I managed to put in the fridge, but they’ll go bad, because if they cook at this rate they’ll never eat them.

Moreover, even though weight change is enabled, they never get fat even though they eat continuously.

4

I agree with you 100%. I’m also upset about the baking issue that’s appeared. Previously, Zoi could eat a piece of cake or other baked goods, and the rest could be put in the refrigerator, but now only one piece gets eaten and the rest disappears instantly :worried:

5

Adding/confirming these issues. Since the 0.9.0 update, I have noticed to following

  1. A 'family-size meal" that is good for 6 people disappears after just some eat. Previously I can store the leftovers and have food for days. It wastes money :sweat_smile:
  2. Sometimes the “family-size meal” disappears after it is cooked when asked to “portion and serve”, even if nobody had eaten yet. Most of the time I notice this when the table is being used or has something on it.
  3. The non-chopstick eating animations now looks like they are not eating and have the utensils stabbed on their hands, with the food magically disappearing from the plate.
  4. Zoi autonomy constantly makes them eat bibimbap or prepare the table for soup, even though their hunger bar is almost full.

More suggestions

  • Allow “clean up everything” for used dishes, instead of zois queuing up at the dishwasher or zois going to the other end of the house to a vacant sink to wash the plate they ate from.
6

The food disappears from the plate almost immediately anyway. This can be solved after updates. :slightly_smiling_face:

7

I struggle to get Zois to call others to a group meal. Often they just ignore it. Very annoying.

8

I am actually at the point where I will not play Inzoi until this is corrected. I can’t play my game because all I can do is try to keep my Zois fed while they waste tons of money cooking when they are NOT hungry and throwing uneaten food away. So frustrating.

9

Yes, same. Also zois will drop the task they’re on and “chase” running to the table if another Zoi makes a meal - whether they’re hungry or not. Really annoying

10

  • Game Version:

  • Platform: (Steam windows / Steam Mac / Mac)

  • Mods: (Choose one: never used / removed / active)
    :round_pushpin:If you have used mods before, please list them:

  • Hardware Specifications & Operating System (OS version, CPU, GPU, RAM, storage…):

  • Steps to Reproduce:

I already reported this issue as a bug on the inZOI forum, but it still has not been fixed, so I am reporting it again. The reason is simple: this is a major issue that significantly affects gameplay.

Since the recent update, Joys have lost their freedom when it comes to cooking and eating.

Every Joy living in the city now eats the same food, at the same time, in the same way. Even if I try to stop these behaviors, they continue to repeat them stubbornly unless I completely disable autonomy.

Every morning, afternoon, and evening, Joys automatically place soup or large-batch meals on the dining table, gather the household together, and force everyone into a group meal. Regardless of their traits, personalities, preferences, or lifestyles, only the household representative Joy is allowed to cook. Other Joys cannot choose what they want to eat and are forced to eat whatever the representative Joy prepares.

When autonomy is enabled, household members cannot refuse these group meals. They abandon whatever they were doing and are compelled to participate, even if they were already engaged in another activity.

I also enjoy seeing families gather together for meals. However, this is not the right way to achieve that.

We already have the ability to schedule family dinners and parties. Those features have lost much of their purpose because the game now forces group meals every single day at fixed times.

The problems do not end there.

After cooking, Joys immediately place large-batch meals on the dining table. It does not matter how many servings were cooked or how many people live in the household; the game simply sets the table according to the table size. Any remaining food then disappears without mercy. Players are given no opportunity to store leftovers in the refrigerator. At this point, even the refrigerator feels like it has lost its purpose.

Even if I prepare meals in advance and leave them in the refrigerator or on the kitchen counter for family members, nobody will eat them. Instead, Joys simply cook yet another meal or return to eating soup. Players have virtually no control over what food their households choose to eat.

Even if family members have already eaten and are not hungry, the same forced group meal begins again at the designated time. Hunger levels do not seem to matter.

I do not know whether this behavior is a bug or an intentional design decision. What I do know is that it makes inZOI feel like it has moved backward rather than forward.

Recently, I read a development report stating that future updates will expand daily life based on Joys’ traits, personalities, and preferences. I sincerely hope that the cooking and dining systems—which currently feel unnatural and restrictive—are included in those improvements.

Please take another look at this issue. It has a significant impact on immersion, household gameplay, and player freedom.

11

Group meals should ONLY be initiated by the players (except maybe when getting invited to another zoi’s house)

Ideally they’d rework it to this :

In order as I think it should be, going thru the list one at a time to pick their meal :
1- If Zoi currently has an active urge (eat mango/granola/bibimbap/etc, or drink coffee), pick that.
2- Eat any meal not currently claimed which are lying around (served meals/unfinished served meals) which have not gone bad.
3- Eat from a meal stack lying around (such as a stack of 8 pancakes or how many is left in the stack) which has not gone bad.
4- Eat a leftover from inside the fridge, again as long as it has not gone bad.
5- If Zoi has cooking preference, make a single portion of their favorite food type if they can/ingredients permit. If more than one type of favorite, random choice.
6- If Zoi does NOT have cooking as a preference, eat a quick meal of their preferred food (if any).

Where it is applicable from the above points, Zoi should ALWAYS pick a meal with proper calories to get as close as possible to maximize their hunger bar, like if the zoi gets into eating a quick meal, and they like meat, they should pick the meat-type food with closest calories count to full (either 90% or 110% or whatever).
But also prioritize their preferred food if-type you picked any.

Also, you will notice the lack of “Setting the Table” or making GROUP MEALS.
The reason why I have not included those, is that they should only be done by the player themselves.
I never want Zois to cook group meals unless I ask them to… But I do want them to eat from them when I DO cook them :wink:

12

Another comment/suggestion is that group meals should NOT be dependent on the table it is being portioned on.

I have a bar counter for 2 people and a dining table for six. If the zoi makes a group meal and portions and serves it on the bar counter, it makes only 2 servings. If it portions and serves it on the dinner table, it makes six. Yet the price of the ingredients is the same. Unfortunately the bar counter is nearer to the stove and my zois defaults to serving on the bar counter, which is not value for money :sweat_smile:

13

Hi everyone(@here),

We’d like to inform you that there is an update regarding this issue with the v0.9.4 Hotfix.

  • Temporarily removed the feature where Zois automatically prepared meals when it was mealtime.

    ※ There were situations where meals were being prepared in unintended ways, so we’ve temporarily removed this feature. We plan to improve it and add it back in the future. Thank you for your understanding.

We ask for your patience, and if there are any suggestions feel free to leave them in the Wishlist category.
We’ll be closing this thread for now.

Thank you.