I had a look at my old thread to see how it's doing a year after I wrapped it up and found out that it reached and surpassed 40.000 views. I still don't get it but here we are and it was obviously time to reinstall the game. - I once more decided against posting in the original InZOI thread. I tried that with Paralives and it did not work: these threads are about news and updates and not about stories. - And finally, I wondered whether I should revive my old thread but also decided against it; after all, it is a document about the early stages of the game and as such, evidently valued by historians.

Anyway, I started almost the same way as the first time: I grabbed a Korean-looking Zoi from the presets, adjusted some of her clothing and put her in the same Dowon appartement as Narae (who still lives there, but in a parallel universe; I do hope that one day we'll be able to play more than one family). This time, however, I made her a teen – I wanted to see how the school is working. Then I let her loose on the town; there are quite a few places to visit now but she went to karaoke den first (tradition matters) and sang a song (terribly); that made her very happy so I bought her a microphone.


Jiwon practicing at home. This time I turned the microphone the right way. Use your earplugs.

On Monday she went to the school for the first time. The building is the same but with a grand new entrance, designed to instill as much awe and fear as possible. (Lasciate ogni speranza …)


It was summer and 38 Celsius and Jiwon had to wear her school uniform. She barely reached the entrance.

School is more fun than I expected. Every day students get a lecture in a different subject (language, maths, etc.) and a different activity (painting, chemistry with a lot of explosions, etc.) and some (easy) tasks; a school restaurant (alias the chatting room) is available. Students leave at 4 PM and then they have to do some homework (also easy but time consuming; they don't have time for much else during the week). Thursday is for exams (the exact day when Jiwon caught a cold, of course, and was lethargic all day; results were published on Friday) and there will be a prom on Saturday. She secured a partner but I have no idea who he is; we'll see how that will go.


Sculpture workshop. Four hands are better than two.

I think the developers solved clipping in the town but at school it's terrible. However, this is not a big problem; quite a few others were solved and those old ones that I had encountered (like the unmovable/invisible chess figures – that one does irk me) are really minor. PC is still overheating but less than before; no bugs encountered so far.

More importantly: one night Jiwon started to walk in her sleep, put out four pieces of cake from the fridge and went back to bed. Nothing to do with anything but this is the kind of silliness I missed in the "old" InZOI. Also, somebody in the team obviously likes The Wall. Methinks that the potential is being realized.

Prom night came and went. Luckily, I did not have to look for Jiwon's partner: he came to fetch her and they were magically transported to school. Unluckily, she was feeling curious and offered him a mystery drink which turned out to be some sort of fish sauce I've never heard about; he did not seem to have any sense of humor, however, and so they became instant enemies. (She tried to apologize but he would not accept her apology; good riddance, then.) She spent the rest of the night dancing with other Zois and practicing facial expressions in front of a mirror: a rather underwhelming experience.


The next evening she went to a disco which turned out to be much more fun.

On Monday, autumn started and the temperature fell overnight from 30 ++ to 16 +/-; well, at least her school uniform made sense now. The schedule remained the same, classes and activities in school and homework in the evening: a bit monotonous after a while but that is, as far as I can remember, quite realistic, so no complaints there. Anyway, the next weekend I sent her on a trip to Cahaya, to see what happened there: this time she did not have to buy a lot or a house – she just moved into a villa and spent most of Saturday swimming and diving and finding treasure chests (not in the sea, on the beach; they were just lying around). On Sunday morning the monsoon started (not again!); she wandered around for a while, sometimes with an umbrella and sometimes without - the game just could not decide - and finally capitulated and returned to Dowon.

Monday was the first day of winter; it began snowing heavily and the temperature fell once more, to -10 +/-. Jiwon went to school and did her homework but at midnight, the game struck once more and she aged to young adult.


Winter festival, with Jiwon pretending to be a snowman (?). More snow was predicted but by then, it magically disappeared, never to return.

Jiwon aging up was not a game breaker like in Narae's case. The only problem was caused by me: I decided she should get a new haircut and sent her to a hairdresser who, however, gave her a haircut she absolutely hated. A great drama ensued, with her kicking the furniture (and hurting her leg in the process) and so on – the less said the better; I finally managed to get her home where she calmed herself by composing a commercial ditty. (Composing looks rather like writing, but a Zoi gets royalties only if and when the song is performed.) The next day she had a blind date, but she obviously preferred cafe americano to the poor guy who was, for some reason, dressed in summer clothes and freezing. She has some friends but her love life up to this point leaves much to be desired.


On Sunday (springtime by then) she finally graduated, new haircut and all. She was also awarded the Outstanding Completion Trophy, was a valedictorian and almost died of hunger – the ceremony was endless.

Now I'll have to make a decision about her future. I took a look at K-pop career to see if anything has changed: nothing has. There are, however, lots of other possibilities, either as a freelancer or in a company; she can also proceed to the university or start a business of her own. And then there is the question of her personal life, of course, and also of her moving to another place – the appartement she is in now is good for one or two people but certainly not for a couple with a child or two. In short, lots of problems ahead.


But some problems remain the same as always.

Jiwon finally decided to enroll in university (multimedia arts major); I think she's the type who likes to postpone important decisions for as long as possible. (Or is that me? I am never sure with these games.) Lectures began the next day but just when she was about to leave a boy who had been stalking her for quite a while sent her a messege asking if they are still friends only; I misunderstood the question and they ended on a date. The wooing process is rather strange, a series of tasks that, however, start automatically only after you talk about something else (like "I'll say that I love you but only after we have discussed the trending memes"). After I managed to figure it out there were no further problems and they ended as what the game calls deeply connected BFFs.


Being deeply connected. Somebody tried to outdo TS4.

Afterwards she finally left for the university but first, she changed into university uniform (? - I looked it up and such uniforms do exist, but are not mandatory). Hers was more or less the same as the high school one, except that socks were white – sometimes; sometimes they were still grey. She walked a few paces and disappeared, a skip button appeared and then a fast moving clock took over the screen; finally she reappeared in front of her flat. She did get some assignments which, however, turned out to be always the same: obviously I stumbled upon a part of the game that is still unfinished, a rabbit hole without a rabbit hole - there is still no university in Dowon.


The uniform was, of course, far too hot for the coming summer. I finally remembered that I could simply change it at the wardrobe: much better. But this is all I can show for her university study.

On Sunday the 30 ++ summer began again; she spent most of the day at home composing (and feeling fine although she was living on the 5th floor with a flat roof above and no air conditioning; insulation looks good, though). In the evening she had a music competition for which she applied while I was still wondering about her K-pop career. The process is the same as it was a year and a half ago – she entered a taxi and I was left staring at the screen until she reappeared. Well, at least she won and got 1000 meows. Later she took part in a literary competition and won again – easy money.

The boyfriend disappeared for a week; then he suddenly paid her a visit and they made love (at least they cuddle a bit now before those hearts take over), but he still would not tell her what his job is: suspicious. She finally decided that he was good looking enough to have a baby with but not trustworthy enough to marry so, after he visited her yet a week later, she acted accordingly and, since he still would not answer her question, sacked him - can't think of a more appropriate word.


Being sacked.

The following days were rather a mess. Luckily, university lectures take place only from Tuesday to Thursday so Jiwon had more free time than before and spent most of it composing, writing and painting; for a while, she got nothing out of it but then royalties suddenly started rolling in - just in time too, because she really had to move now. There were no appartements and only two plots available; I chose the one near Harang River Park and plopped down a premade house. (I was quite a builder in TS to early TS3 times, but by now I just want to play.) The groundplan is not very good but that can be helped and at least the house has all the basics as well as air conditioning (insulation seems worse than it was at the appartement, though).

Pregnancy went well; several actions/scans became available at the hospital but once more, Jiwon just entered a taxi and disappeared; another rabbit hole but at least there is a hospital in Dowon. She gave birth at home, TS2-style, on Halloween – if that's not typical of her I don't know what is.


Jiwon wondering about her son, Minjun: he looks rather like a middle-aged accountant and nothing like either of his parents.

.........

I fell into some holes this time but they did not really interrupt the flow of the game, at least not for me. - I also took a look at Steam. Recent reviews are "very positive" but there are terrible battles going on in Discussions, mostly about whether the game is still soulless or not and whether it will be abandoned or not; extremists on both sides, trying hard to murder each other. However, if you want some community awards you should start a thread condemning the game as strongly as possible: success guaranteed.

Bringing up baby was much easier than I expected (not in real life, in the game). There are lots of interactions, some even for the baby, there is a lot of baby stuff available and a babysitter comes automatically (and is very efficient) if your Zoi has or wants to go out: Jiwon is a caring mother but sometimes she just has to have some time for herself.


Like when she visited the Halloween festival. The singer was terrible so she quickly left and did some busking of her own: still no success.

The part from the birth to the school years is, to put it mildly, very similar to TS2 but much easier: compared to my TS2 babies Minjun was an angel – he never cried, never screamed, never threw a tantrum. I wish … Anyway, he became a toddler at the grand age of two days. (BTW, pregnancy lasted three days. Life moves fast in Korea; small wonder that Kim Jong Un's daughter is already his successor.) As a toddler he was still an angel but a very slowly crawling one (definitely not realistic, at least as far as I know). Most of the objects I could buy for him at this stage were supposed to help him to develop his abilities (e.g., sound books for his "cognitive development" - the game loves to sound important) but mostly, he preferred just to sit in the middle of the living room and stare at the world around him.


Also: going potty without a potty. At least he learned how to float but, sadly, lost the ability later on.

Jiwon tried to teach him to walk (though, wisely, not to talk) but he began walking only on the morning of his next birthday.


Minjun's first official portrait as a child. By now he does look rather like Jiwon, except for his hair which is black like his father's.

He managed to just miss the winter festival and was immediately dispatched to the primary school, which seems to be situated in the same non-existent building as Jiwon's university so he disappeared as well. Hours later he reappeared with a group of children and, right away, discovered his first sympathy.


Their wooing abilities leave something to be desired, though.

At the end of the same day Jiwon aged up as well and, of course, immediately graduated from the university. (Since the university does not exist its graduation ceremony does not exist either.) The next evening her BFF from high school years, Rumi, called to invite her to the disco; they had a great time, Jiwon invited her to live with her and Rumi accepted. (No, they are not lovers but what the game calls "colleagues"; I think that means they have no idea what they will do next, and neither do I.) - Rumi was quite well off so I decided I should finally rebuild the house by adding another floor: a hard day's work. (Real time; the in-game tutorial and YT videos were of little help – it's the most basic stuff that was the biggest problem for me and, of course, they don't mention that.) Now the family has enough space (too much, actually, but that might come handy later on) and lots of things they don't really need - stuff is rather inexpensive, even the best one (by now it is categorized by reliability and energy consumption), so they still have a lot of meows left.

No snapshot. The end result was passable but nothing to write home about.

Have you checked out Zoiworks Mods yet? They add a wonderful gameplay loop to your world.

I did take a look at mods, mostly at CurseForge and Nexus Mods and at WickedZoi as well (no prizes given for guessing what they offer) but I know what would happen if I dived in: I would start downloading and trying stuff out like a maniac and forget about everything else.

I think it is better to continue this thread with the game as it comes out of the box, so to speak. My interest lies in saying a bit about it and, above all, in telling a story; as long as the game enables me to do that everything is fine. But there are some amazing mods out there, big and small and more to come, and I am looking forward to trying them.

How customizable the neighborhoods are in Inzoi, compared to Sims 2 or 3? I mean, can you bulldoze residential or community lots and replace them with your own builds, or downloaded ones? Or can you grab the lots and move them to another location, rearranging a whole district? Are there neighborhood deco objects like in Sims that are also moveable and repositionable?

Certainly less customizable. I noticed an "edit lot" (or something similar) button on some Dowon and Cahaya lots that my Zois visited, but not on all of them. I have never tried it so I don't know if you can only add or remove some items or tear down everything and replace it with another building or a park, etc.

ETA: I looked around and found out that you can also enter editable lots from the map on which they are marked green; however, these markings are not reliable - some green lots are not editable and some others are. I tried out one lot and I could remove everything, the building and the stuff within it, but I read than some objects can't be removed. Lots being moved around was never mentioned. In short, unfinished as well and a bit of a mess ATM.

Rumi turned out to be an odd cookie. She is a romantic by nature but constantly depressed; a slacker who loves to clean and does it all the time but leaves things lying all over the place; she does like Jiwon but has shown no interest in Minjun at all.


But most of all she loves to cut everybody and everything off, be it at home …


… or in the gallery ...

… or anywhere else. Her history is strange as well. She used to work at the bank but was sacked after she moved; I looked and there is a bank in Dowon but no jobs are available there. She applied for work at a law firm and was accepted but before she started I happened to find her at the computer, being "aflutter" and looking for an online date. I strongly encouraged that and she soon found one, Seowon, a young adult. They first met at the gallery and, since this time she did not fall asleep, it was a great success and she could immediately set up a date. (She had to choose where and when and what to wear and was told what to do – be kind and romantic – and what not to do – listen to music, watch TV, sleep or clean: very sensible in her case.) The date was different from Jiwon's, a long series of scripted actions that proceeded automatically: not sure if that is because the developers changed it or because my Zoi was the one who set it up.


At one point I thought that HE was going to fall asleep, but it was just one of the tasks they had to complete.

The date went well (to be honest, I would have to work hard to make it fail) and Seowon joined the family, but then he and Rumi decided to live on their own. Or was that me? Anyway, I split the family and their funds and, since the former Jiwon's a flat was already taken (there is obviously a serious housing crisis in Dowon), they bought the other empty lot where I plopped down another premade house and left them to live happily ever after.

Jiwon's problem was different: by now she can make more than enough money from composing, writing and, especially, painting, but on the other hand, she is certainly not the type to stay at home all day. I tried to find her a job in a place that actually exists in the game, but the only such place that I know of is Adam Entertainment – that's where Narae had tried to become an idol - and I did not want Jiwon to work there. I failed to find any other (though I am sure they exist) so at the moment she is working as a reporter for the local newspaper, Mirror of the Times (supposedly located in a rabbit hole labelled as "The Press" on the map; such small inconsistencies are frequent in the game). She gets some tasks to do while at work, but nothing really interesting.

On Spring festival she visited Central Park once more and, being the eternal optimist she is, started busking once more as well …


… this time with an elderly hippie she has never met before.

They earned nothing, of course, but after they finished they started chatting and they chatted and chatted until she began to stink to high heaven and really had to leave. But she did manage to get his number before she left.

Minjun grew up on the first day of summer. His character was fixed by the game and could not be changed: he is a charmer (after his father, I guess), lively and cheerful (these are his mother's characteristics). He looks like a mixture of both but is much taller than Jiwon. Later I changed his hairstyle (it was fine for a child but seemed rather ridiculous on a teen, at least to me) and some of his clothing.


Birthday cake. Minjun loves a cake so he is thanking all the gods for getting one. (The painting is one of Jiwon's; for some reason it can't be displayed at proper height.)

The next day he went to high school: 39 Celsius again but this time I knew what his uniform should be. I expected him to meet his first sympathy there, but so far he could not find her; instead, he went to the first girl he saw and started a conversation, charmingly, of course. The poor thing seemed quite frightened; now he wants to befriend her but I think he'll have to change his tactics if he really wants to succeed. Otherwise, nothing new to report, except that Jiwon called him in the middle of a lesson to ask if he was eating properly; he said he was. (That was a lie but it did calm her down.)

Jiwon became middle aged the next day. She has had some lovers but, for a while, nothing serious; then one of them, the elderly hippie, suddenly died and that made her think. She finally decided she should settle down with the one she liked the best, Doyun (an adult, and an unmarried one at that - a very rare beast in Dowon) and, on her birthday, arranged a meeting which would hopefully lead to a date which would hopefully lead to him moving in. The ploy worked, though persuading him to move in proved to be harder than in Rumi's case, perhaps because his ideal is, as it turned out, Life of Freedom. I was rather worried when he joined the family (one can learn a lot about a Zoi when meeting and dating, but not everything – undoubtedly realistic) but he is a nice bloke, a cheerful and extroverted pacifist, and he gets on well with both Jiwon and Minjun. The only problem is his ambition: he wants to live in a luxury mansion. I have my doubts about that but we'll see.


Jiwon and Doyun on the date, exchanging jokes. Yes, that is one of the tasks.


At the very same moment Minjun was in the school cafeteria, exchanging ideas with Hyorin (no, not his second sympathy, his third). He was hungry and should be eating, but some things are more important than food.


Minjun trying to talk to Hyorin after school but yet another girl, Anzuko, kept interfering; looks like she is after him. Well, I wished for a game that would make complications of its own and it seems I've got it.

The next day they all went their on their ways. Doyun is an executive producer at Beat Code, a musical company which does exist in the game; he has an office on the second floor, other employees work on the first floor and a lobby and a conference room are on the ground floor. He gets some tasks at work and also some overtime work which he can do it either at the office or at home. Is this typical for Korea? Or for all of East Asia? I don't know but it eats up all of his free time, so I soon decided that he should disregard it: family first, career (and luxury mansions, I am afraid) be damned. A clash of cultures, I guess.


Doyun having lunch with assistant producers and assistants just like that. This snapshot was taken with the Steam camera because "Photo mode can only be used with empty hands". Realism gone mad.

.....................................

Jumping between actions taking place at completely different ends of town needs getting used to; I had some experience with it in TS3 but this is on quite another level and it certainly slows the gameplay (though not the game itself). I was disappointed when Jiwon got a job in a rabbit hole, but after Minjun entered high school I was glad she did; at least I don't have to take care of her. Doyun, however, works five days a week, so I will still have a lot of jumping to do in the coming days.

Inviting Hyorin to the prom. She accepted and Minjun was ecstatic for the rest of the day.

The next day both Hyorin and Anzuko disappeared from school; that made Minjun anxious but he consoled himself by chatting to Jiu, his second sympathy. (I checked and polygamy is not allowed in the game. I have a feeling that, sooner or later, Minjun will land in a lot of trouble.) - On Friday a double birthday took place: Doyun became middle aged and Minjun a teenager. (Yes, only now; since I created Jiwon as a teen I have not realized that there is an adolescent stage as well. Seems rather redundant to me, TBH.) Aging up had no effect on Minjun but it did make Doyun lethargic for most of the day; however, he also rolled out a wish to marry Jiwon.

Prom night came but Hyorin did not. (No idea what happened here: it could be a bug, but there are other explanations and they seem more plausible.) Jiu did, even though Minjun never asked her, and they had a good time, chatting and dancing and growing closer by the minute - which, however, did not stop him from flirting with a very charming adolescent who was only too happy to give him her number. (I lost count at this point.)


A very charming adolescent.

After the prom ended Jiu proposed a post-prom date, but this time *she* did not show up – maybe she noticed him flirting with that adolescent and wanted to punish him. (I am still not sure whether Zois can get jealous or not; sometimes they seem to be acting like they were but there is no corresponding moodlet.) He waited for an hour and finally left, sad again.

On Sunday, which also happened to be the first day of autumn (no more heat!), Jiwon and Doyun got married. First, of course, they had to be engaged.


Doyun usually changes into everyday clothes right after he gets up, but this was a special occasion.

Just like Sims Zois have to choose between a private or a public wedding. I think Jiwon and Doyun would prefer a private one, but I wanted to see the big ceremony and that was it. Planning (via map/schedule) is similar to planning a date except that, at the end, you are asked if you want to move to a new house: a no-brainer with all that housing crisis.


Rumi was officiating and she certainly enjoyed it - she likes to give speeches.

Guests and party members were clapping and making hearts and taking photos; newlyweds kissed outside the venue and never again; they danced after Rumi's speech but Jiwon forgot to throw her bouquet; then they all had a party at which nobody quite knew what to do; and then it was finally over. Rather a mess - the whole thing badly needs polishing and is quite underwhelming ATM. - Minjun, BTW, was invited but chose not to come: he preferred to stay at home and be miserable.

............................................................

I had to leave after I finished the wedding scene and when I came back I noticed that the new update was applied. I had saved just before the wedding started and I decided I should replay it, to see if there is anything new, but before I entered the house screen the game asked if I wanted to update my property; the first time I answered "yes" and finished with my Zois standing in front of a completely empty lot. Officially "the update cannot be undone" but in practice all I had to do was to reload and choose »keep«; then everything was as before and I proceeded with the wedding. Developers did polish it (that was quick indeed): e.g., the first newlywed's task is to thank guests for attending but before they just filed past Jiwon and left her thanking empty air; now she did talk to them. And so on; good job. - Minjun, however, still stayed at home, moping.


Going down the aisle, holding hands properly: that's also new.

Jiwon and Doyun spent the rest of Sunday being romantic and Minjun spent it being miserable. I discovered the real reason: his father died. He never met him but obviously, this does not matter and nothing could pull him out of his misery – I tried several methods proposed by the game bur none worked. In the evening Moe the Charming Adolescent suddenly called to ask if she could crash at his place for a night; after she arrived they first shared boxing techniques, then he shared The Feeling of Floundering in the Abyss of Despair and finally described her as The Ray of Hope amid Despair, but none of this helped either, possibly because she soon grew tired of him and went off to play computer games. He was miserable throughout the night and in the school the next day and at home after he returned and then, just after 9 PM, he suddenly stopped being miserable and became content. It was too late to do anything then but on Tuesday evening he did manage to organize a meeting with Xinxin. (No, you haven't heard of her yet; she is a teen he met some days earlier at the arcade.)


The meeting went well even though, as usually, he almost died of hunger.

Now he has three loves at once (four if you count Hyorin; she is still on the list). Even my lovestruck TS2 Sims would be proud of that achievement but for him it was still not enough; while meeting Xinxin he rolled out the wish to befriend yet another girl.


And the next day, he did exactly that.

On Thursday Jiwon became an elder, far too soon for my taste: I wanted her to be a grandmother but Minjun is still a teen and teens can't have children (elders can, though: a strange oversight). (By now one can change aging speed in Options/Simulation/Aging, but I left all options on default 1x: a bad decision.) Doyun threw her a birthday party and guests, mostly her BFFs and mostly elders themselves, came; they all had a good time and at the end she broke the pinata. (I had to look this one up. Breaking it »represents overcoming sin and temptation«; the history and symbolism are quite complicated.) Then the guests left and Doyun and Minjun had to clean after them; finally they fell into their beds, exhausted. - Now Jiwon moves around like a caricature of a 90 years old. (On the whole, body language is pretty good in the game but sometimes it is exaggerated, though seldom as grotesque as in TS4.)


But she still loves to sing.

The second prom approached and Minjun had yet had another problem: Jiu disappeared as well. (He can still call her, as well as Hyorin, but he can't send them any messages. I finally figured it out. It's all about aging: -18 are not allowed to have romantic interactions with 18+ and Hyorin and Jiu must have aged to young adults while Minjun is still a teen.) Xinxin is another problem: she is a teen but she never appeared at school – I could hardly miss her with that name – and I don't understand how that is possible: nobody ever asked Jiwon and Minjun whether they want to go to school or not, both were enrolled automatically. Anyway, he could not ask her either so his only choices were Moe and Haon, his most recent sympathy; knowing that Moe is good at boxing and therefore potentially quite dangerous he chose Haon. For once, everything went well: she picked him up on time, they went along very well and no charming adolescents intervened. At midnight the prom ended, winter began and he went home, not only sleepy but freezing as well.


No charming adolescents. Actually, there was nobody else but the organizer on the ground floor at the time – they all gathered around the toilets on the first floor.

On Sunday evening Minjun had a date with Moe at the cinema (she arranged it a couple of days earlier and I completely forgot about it.). It went well – they watched the movie, he gave her a chick doll he had won at the arcade and she did not beat him up – but, all said and done, Haon still remained his only True Love. When he came back the house was empty: both Jiwon and Doyun were participating in a comedy club performance. Yet another rabbit hole: they both managed to deliver a killer joke but no result was announced and they both came back flustered, so I don't think they won.


A date at the cinema. Very few other people at this point but they did come later to watch a horror movie.

On Monday Doyun became an elder. This time the feast was family only affair; I wanted to see if anything has changed there. Not really: he made a pose with the cake, Jiwon took a photo, he blew the candles and that was it.


But first they all sat down to have a discussion, about the procedure, I guess. Anyway, group talk is also new and most welcome.

Jiwon quit her job immediately after she aged up; Doyun went to work the next day but in the afternoon I spotted him in front of TV, watching a reality show instead of finishing his tasks. He never did that before - obviously he had enough as well.

On Wednesday night Rumi died. The next morning Jiwon went to the cemetery but could not find her grave; she offered silent prayers at an unnamed one and left. - On Friday Minjun became a young adult: now he can't date Haon but can meet Hyorin, Jiu, Xinxin and Moe as well. (Obviously she grew up and she also phoned him to promise that she won't hurt him. Really.) A lot of hard work to be done and no time to loose. He started with Hyorin but she said she did not have time; Jiu accepted the invitation but, once more, did not show up (is she still mad with him?); Xinxin did come and they had a reasonably good time but spent an awful lot of it reading newspapers; and he did not dare to call Moe, despite her promises.


He spent the rest of the day looking at the dating site and feeling rather melancholic.

Jiwon died in her sleep on the first day of spring. Doyun was too old and distressed to do anything so Minjun had to take care of the funeral; as Fates would have it, it was also the day of his graduation.

This is as far as this thread goes, at least for now. I will keep on playing the family and I might update the thread every now and then, depending on how the story and, of course, the game will develop.

.......................................................

I started the thread with two goals in mind, to find out whether the game makes it possible to weave a decent story and to see how it has changed in the year after I abandoned it.

To answer the second question first: it made an enormous progress but the problems that remain are quite big as well. The greatest ones, at least for me, are the two remaining educational rabbit holes, primary school and, above all, university. High school is almost finished but not quite: e.g., in Dowon there is a music room that students love to frequent but is never used for education, and clipping (as well as some animations) is still a mess.

Jobs are another problem. The fact is that desk jobs are not interesting to look at in real life either, even if you are actually solving a really interesting problem (usually you are not). I can say nothing bad about the way Doyun's job was presented, but after a while it did become repetitive. (The good side was that I could just line up his tasks and leave him for most of the day.) K-pop career is much better in this sense but wrong in many others; I don't think developers will remake it (they certainly should) but I guess this is why they added the criminal career. This time the problem is mine: I am just not interested. The only game that I have ever played as a criminal was (the first) Mafia and I played it because I loved all those old cars – my gangster had quite a collection at the end. Rabbit hole jobs are yet another problem: they are neither here nor there and they feel empty - those few tasks that your Zoi gets are always the same. I think that TS2-type jobs (or at least part rabbit hole ones like the medical career in TS3) are a much better solution.

There are other rabbit holes that should be finished as well, e.g., the flea market (Zois visit it often but so far they can't buy anything at the stalls), the hospital, etc. And then there are other problems. Conversations or, to be exact, answers are one of them: sometimes they appear as (often incomplete) texts, sometimes as a symbol/emoji in a thought bubble and sometimes there is no answer at all (body language helps up to a point on such occasions but it can't answer everything): developers should really decide which method they will use and then stick with it. The camera (photo mode) is clumsy, to put it mildly; there are quite a few inconsistencies and rough edges; and so on – the list is long but not hopelessly so. I should also add that Steam discussions are filled with complaints from people who can't start the game at all or have CTDs, etc.: if you decide to buy the game do make sure your computer can run all of it before the refund period is over.

And finally, the biggest and the terriblest question of them all: is the game still soulless? The short answer is no. It certainly used to be, but the greatest progress was made in this department, especially with the October update: it is obvious that developers worked hard to make characters and their interactions better. Acquaintances will wave at your Zoi if they happen to meet on the street, strangers will come to greet him or her and they, both playable and unplayable ones, will seek each other out to chat. Group conversation is possible (only three Zois for now, AFAIK, but even that is too much if your Zoi is trying to get to know a love interest and somebody decides to join in – realism can become quite frustrating). Autonomy also works well: you can be sure that your Zois won't die of hunger if left alone – they will only *almost* die of hunger.

So, the final verdict? There can be none; the game is still in early access and very much unfinished, but all the criticism matters far less then it did the last year. InZOI is, even at this point, immersive and certainly worth a try.

And I almost forgot to answer the first question: yes, it is a good game for making stories and, hopefully, it will become even better.