TL;DR: Vital Energy taking 30 hours to fully replenish is a god-tier quality of life addition. Instead of suggesting that Infold get rid of that, we should try to suggest they provide us with energy (or the illusion of energy) in other ways.

With the recent survey, I have seen a lot of people express frustration with the way Vital Energy works in Infinity Nikki, and while I personally think it works fine, it has made me a bit sad to see people actually suggest that Infold get rid of such an amazing quality of life feature that players of other games have actually begged for years for.

I think this is likely a case of this game being the first many people have played with these sorts of mechanics, but Infinity Nikki actually has an energy system that benefits the player much more than competing games. Hearing a lot of people say that they dislike the fact that it takes over 24 hours to max out on Vital Energy is pretty shocking as someone who has seen (and been one of those) players of other games asking for higher caps so there is more wiggle room.

I think that if you genuinely want a rate of refresh that takes ≤ 24 hours to fully replenish, it’s because you’re falling victim to a psychological illusion tricking your brain into thinking that if the number of energy you’ve earned in 24 hours is closer to the number of potential energy you could’ve earned then you actually earned “more” energy. 

You want to come back to the game after a day and go “Ahh, my energy is completely refilled!” because it’s more satisfying, despite the fact that it’s a diminished player experience that limits flexibility and punishes the player for unexpected life events. A lower than 24-hour timer can also be an extremely manipulative move from developers because it forces you to think about the game even during offline hours and worry about logging in to spend energy to make sure it doesn’t cap. 

Other games have only ever increased the cap so that players don’t need to log in in less than 24 hours, and I have yet to see an open-world exploration game with a similar mechanic that sped up the rate of refresh (please correct me if I’m wrong! Most of my research was on Hoyoverse games).

Genshin Impact increased the energy cap from 120 (16 hours to fully replenish) to 160 (~21 hours), and then again to 200 (~26.5 hours) last year. Honkai: Star Rail increased the energy cap from 180 (18 hours) to 240 (24 hours). This means that even after the increases, Infinity Nikki’s energy cap of 350 has more cushioning than both of these games.

Another complaint I see is that energy refreshes too slowly.

Genshin Impact has a 1 energy per 8-minute regeneration rate, and both Honkai: Star Rail and Zenless Zone Zero have a 1 energy per 6-minute regeneration rate. This makes Infinity Nikki's refresh rate of 1 energy every 5 minutes faster than all of Hoyoverse’s recent games. If you spent all of your energy in each of these games at the same time, in 24 hours you would make 180 energy in Genshin Impact, 240 energy in Honkai: Star Rail and Zenless Zone Zero, and 288 energy in Infinity Nikki.

Of course, there’s the nitty-gritty of just what exactly you need energy for in each game, but putting that aside, having both a more comfortable energy cap and a faster regeneration rate is something that I think a decent amount of the player base is taking for granted since the existence of the energy system in the first place isn’t conducive to their desires to accomplish all of their in-game goals as quickly as possible.

And while I don’t always think that comparing systems in games like this is necessary, I think it’s important to remember that during the development process of a game, developers are likely comparing how they intend their system to work with the way similar systems work in competing games and the opinions that those player bases have about those systems. So as players, we can get a bit of insight into the things that would have helped shape their decisions if we pay attention to other games as well.

Infinity Nikki, aside from appealing to Nikki franchise fans, is likely targeting a more casual player base that takes single-player games at a more leisurely pace. This can also be inferred from their branding as “The Coziest Open-World Game.” Knowing who their target audience is, they intend to give players a casual gaming experience that they can fit into their daily lives and not one they have to mold their daily lives around. Their consideration to include an energy cap more flexible than the ones their competitors offer is a quality-of-life feature we shouldn’t take for granted.

I also think that Infold already took the energy requirements for the various different materials you need to farm into consideration when developing Vital Energy. Infinity Nikki having a faster rate of refresh than many of the leading games in the industry (Wuthering Waves has the same cap and refresh rate as Honkai: Star Rail, to throw in a non-Hoyoverse example) isn't just a happy accident. That ~50 extra energy per day adds up and ends up going a long way.

But…! People want more energy. And we need some realistic ways to get that. I think as a community if we are able to suggest things that are relatively similar then we have a higher chance of getting those changes made.

Suggestions I Think Are Actually Worth Making

Because here’s the thing, the rate of refresh changing is such a slim, slim chance. Of course, you can still hope for it (never say never!), but if we’re being realistic it’s not likely to happen. So instead of dying on that hill, let's try to appeal to things Infold is much more likely to consider:

1. Have an Energy Crystal be obtainable through Daily Wishes

I think that this is both a great way to add value to Daily Wishes and provide players with more energy each day that doesn’t mess with the current energy cap or rate of refresh. However, over the course of a week, this amounts to 560 energy, so I could see them capping it at a max of 3 times a week.

2. Consistent 2x realm rewards in the latter half of every version

While I think it is a matter of time until we get a 2x event for Bouldy materials, I think having a 2x rewards event in the latter half of each version will be a good way to give players some relief from the daily grind. We’ll have to wait and see what they have planned for 1.1, but it could still be a good thing for players to suggest so Infold knows to keep them rolling.

3. 3 discounted Bouldy runs every day / week

This one is ambitious, but if the cost of your first three Bouldy runs each day were cut by 25%, over the course of one week you would save 210 Vital Energy, which is worth over 5 extra non-discounted Bouldy runs per week (so 25 more Bouldy mats per week). Though realistically, they wouldn’t do this per day, they would do it per week, and probably cut the cost in half. However, it would still result in extra energy to spend.

4. Have friends be able to send energy to one another every day / week

Infinity Nikki allows you to have up to 200 friends, and currently, there isn't much you can do with them. Allowing friends to send energy would provide players with more energy that doesn't mess with the current energy cap or rate of refresh and adds some value to the mechanic. While it would be nice if you could do this every day, a maxed-out friends list would net you 200 extra energy a day, so if they implemented this one it would likely be on a weekly basis which would get you around the same amount of energy per week as suggestion 3.

Feel free to leave more suggestions or your own discussions or opinions about Vital Energy below!