Zen Koi

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Are there important things I should be doing? Yes.

Did I decide to take advantage of the new phone actually having space for a frivolous app? Yeah.

Is it possible that I'm a smidge embarrassed by how much I like the game so far? Maybe.

Zen Koi

It's Zen Koi from LandShark Games.

It doesn't take a lot of skill, really. It's not fast paced. You play as a koi, level up by eating different food items in the pond (to increase your speed and agility), and if you eat certain food items, you can make gems that will expand the pond (introducing new food). Once you get the last pond expansion, the koi levels up to a dragon, and really, if you do it once, you've probably covered most of what will happen in the game. The part that changes and keeps most people interested on repeating the whole cycle is that you can breed your koi with those introduced in the game and collect the different patterns. (Your rarity stat influences whether the mate will be common or rare.)

Granted, this depends on whether you have an empty slot on your egg list, which can only hold eight eggs, so it's entirely possible that your koi can ascend to a dragon without a mate being introduced to the pond. (One workaround to this is to ascend the koi on your 'My Koi' list, which only starts out with three slots, because dragons have a separate list, and an empty koi slot means you can hatch an egg. Or you can buy additional koi slots with the in-game currency [pearls].)

Did I find out that I'm a few years too late to trying this game, so most info is aimed at Zen Koi 2? Unfortunately. I think Zen Koi came out in 2015 and Zen Koi 2 left beta in 2018, maybe? Most content about Zen Koi seems to be dated to 2016 at any rate.

Anyway. This is the landing post for personal chatter about the game, which will be in the comments. I highly doubt that I'll be playing this on an aggressive collector approach.

Game started: 1 Jan 2021 || Originally posted on Pillowfort: 2 Jan 2021 || Archived here on Dreamwidth: 19 Sept 2024

Comments

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2 Jan 2021 (1:25 pm, EST): Pond Progression (AKA you don't necessarily have to eat a prey once it's introduced). Tapping the prey will cause a white circle and your koi will automatically follow them in the most direct route, which might take it through the red kelp that slows it down (red edges on the screen, eyes close, and apparently painful). Having a white circle also clues the prey in, and most will try to swim away.

Note: Once you've finished making the gem(s) to expand the pond, your koi will automatically swim to the next level's symbol (the gem(s) will circle your koi). If you tap the screen and interrupt the auto-swimming (and don't want to try to find the symbol on your own), the notification bit on the bottom (where level up notices and other info show up) can be tapped and you can select the 'Deliver the gems' option to restart the auto-swimming.

Pond Level 1 (Start): Tadpoles and Dart Fish.

When starting out, you might not have a high enough speed stat to directly chase the Dart Fish, so approaching from the side will help. If you swim close and tap the prey at the last moment, you might do better until you can level up your speed and agility stats.

Progression Requirement: Eat 3 Dart Fish and 6 Tadpoles.

1 Dart Fish + 2 Tadpoles = 1 white gem. 3 white gems = Activate swirly triskelion symbol.

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I'm not sure if the progression requirements change randomly or if it's tied into the color pattern of the fish, but these notes relate to the Sutato Koi.

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Pond Level 2 (swirly triskelion symbol): Tadpoles, Dart Fish, and introduce Green Amoebas and Jellies.

Green Amoebas will follow and 'stick' to other prey (you can eat several prey at one time). They also will follow and try to stick to you, but if you stop moving, they'll leave. Out of all of these prey, Green Amoebas won't really try to evade being eaten.

Progression Requirement: Eat 12 Tadpoles, 12 Jellies, and 12 Green Amoebas or Dart Fish.

4 Tadpoles + 4 Jellies = 1 blue gem (with one dot).

4 Green Amoebas = 1 yellow gem; 4 Dart Fish = 1 red gem.

3 blue gems + 3 yellow or red gems = Activate stylized sun (circle with eight small circles connected to it).

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Pond Level 3 (stylized sun): Tadpoles, Dart Fish, Green Amoebas, Jellies, and introduce Diving Beetles.

Progression Requirement: Eat 15 Jellies, 15 Dart Fish, 15 Beetles, and 15 Tadpoles or Green Amoebas.

5 Tadpoles + 5 Jellies = 1 blue gem (with one dot); 5 Dart Fish + 5 Beetles = 1 red gem (with one dot).

Or: 5 Green Amoebas + 5 Beetles = 1 yellow gem (with one dot); 5 Dart Fish + 5 Jellies = 1 red gem (with one dot).

3 red gems + 3 blue or yellow gems = Activate stylized 'S'.

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Pond Level 4 (Stylized 'S'): Dart Fish, Green Amoebas, Tadpoles, Jellies, Diving Beetles, and introduce Puffer Fish.

You have to approach Puffer Fish directly from behind. Off at an angle, from the side, or directly from the front, and the Puffer Fish will puff out and not be able to be eaten. This means you need to manually swim into position and then tap on the Puffer Fish at the last moment to avoid the direct path leading to puffing out.

Progression Requirements: Eat 24 Puffer Fish, 24 Jellies, 12 Tadpoles, and 12 Beetles.

6 Puffer Fish + 6 Jellies = 1 purple gem (one dot). Two one dot gems = 1 purple gem (two dots).

6 Tadpoles + 6 Beetles = 1 blue gem (one dot).

2 purple gems (two dots) + 2 blue gems (one dot) = Activate simple flower.

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Pond Level 5 (simple flower): Green Amoebas, Tadpoles, Jellies, Diving Beetles, Puffer Fish, and introduce Leaf Fish.

They disappear inside the green leafy plants, so there's no point continuing to follow them if they head to one.

Progression Requirements: Eat 24 Puffer Fish, 24 Jellies, 12 Leafy Fish or 12 Green Amoebas, and 12 Beetles.

6 Puffer Fish + 6 Jellies = 1 purple gem (one dot). Two one dot gems = 1 purple gem (two dots).

6 Leafy Fish + 6 Beetles = 1 orange gem (one dot). Or: 6 Green Amoebas + 6 Beetles = 1 yellow gem (one dot). Two one dot gems = 1 yellow gem (two dots).

2 purple gems (two dots) + 2 orange gems (one dot) or 1 yellow gem (two dots) = Activate stylized eye.

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Pond Level 6 (stylized eye): Tadpoles, Green Amoebas, Puffer Fish, Leaf Fish, and introduce Flying Fish.

Once you tap on them and they're actively avoiding you, they can have a burst of speed. If you wait on tapping them, you might be able to position yourself inside their arcs, since they tend to travel in wide circles when not swimming away.

Progression Requirements: 24 Green Amoeba, 24 Diving Beetles, 24 Puffer Fish, and 24 Flying Fish.

6 Green Amoeba + 6 Beetles = 1 yellow gem (one dot). Two one dot gems = 1 yellow gem (two dots).

6 Puffer Fish + 6 Flying Fish = 1 purple gem (one dot). Two one dot gems = 1 purple gem (two dots).

2 yellow gems (two dots) + 2 purple gems (two dots) = Activate four swirls with halfway lines.

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Pond Level 7 (four swirls with halfway lines): Tadpoles, Green Amoebas, Puffer Fish, Leaf Fish, Flying Fish, and introduce Armored Fish.

I'm not entirely sure if there's a way to reduce how many bites you need to knock off all of the 'armor' scales on their back (like there is in Zen Koi 2), but most often, you'll need to tap 4 times (3 bites before eating). Occasionally, you'll need to tap 5 times (4 bites before eating).

Progression Requirements: Eat 24 Flying Fish, 24 Puffer Fish, 12 Armored Fish, and 24 Leaf Fish or Tadpoles. Or 24 Green Amoebas, 24 Flying Fish, 24 Tadpoles, and 12 Armored Fish.

6 Leaf Fish + 6 Flying Fish = 1 orange gem (with one dot). Two one dot gems = 1 orange gem (two dots).

6 Puffer Fish + 3 Armored Fish = 1 purple gem (one dot). Two one dot gems = 1 purple gem (two dots).

2 purple gems (two dots) + 2 orange gems (two dots)= Activate simplified Icelandic sigil.

Or:

6 Tadpoles + 6 Flying Fish = 1 blue gem (one dot). Two one dot gems = 1 blue gem (two dots).

6 Puffer Fish + 3 Armored Fish = 1 purple gem (one dot). Two one dot gems = 1 purple gem (two dots).

2 purple gems (two dots) + 2 blue gems (two dots)= Activate sigil.

Or:

6 Green Amoebas + 6 Flying Fish = 1 yellow gem (one dot). Two one dot gems = 1 yellow gem (two dots).

6 Tadpoles + 3 Armored Fish = 1 blue gem (one dot). Two one dot gems = 1 blue gem (two dots).

2 yellow gems (two dots) + 2 blue gems (two dots) = Activate sigil.

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Pond Level 8 (simplified Icelandic sigil): Tadpoles, Green Amoebas, Puffer Fish, Leaf Fish, Flying Fish, Armored Fish, and introduce Doubled-Tailed Fish.

There's not really anything special about hunting them, but Double-Tailed Fish give you the most experience towards leveling up (I think you max out at 21).

Progression Requirements: Eat 12 Armored Fish, 24 Double-Tailed Fish, 24 Puffer Fish or Leaf Fish, and 24 Green Amoebas or Tadpoles.

6 Puffer Fish + 3 Armored Fish = 1 purple gem (one dot). Two one dot gems = 1 purple gem (two dots).

6 Green Amoebas + 6 Double-Tailed Fish = 1 yellow gem (one dot). Two one dot gems = 1 yellow gem (two dots).

2 purple gems (two dots) + 2 yellow gems (two dots) = Activate flower inside circle sigil (ascend to dragon).

Or:

6 Leaf Fish + 3 Armored Fish = 1 orange gem (one dot). Two one dot gems = 1 orange gem (two dots).

6 Tadpoles + 6 Double-Tailed Fish = 1 blue gem (one dot). Two one dot gems = 1 blue gem (two dots).

2 orange gems (two dots) + 2 blue gems (two dots) = Activate flower inside circle sigil (ascend to dragon).