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Topic: Animal Crossing: New Horizons

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Anti-Matter

I can predict next Animal Crossing will be more The Sims style, less the antics from GameCube era.
Animal Crossing doesn't need unnecessary penalty for not playing the game by one day.
It's already outdated in this era.

Anti-Matter

MarioVillager92

@BrittGOAL14 That'd be cool. Maybe if they go back to the towns for the next game, they could have a job system or something, that would be pretty neat. That's one idea I have for the next Animal Crossing... Fantasy Life on the 3DS did have something similar to what I'm thinking of.

"Give yourself the gift of being joyfully you."

ACNH Name/Island: D-Pad/D-World
Dream Address: DA-1613-1378-1995

Also known as MarioLover92. Please ask for my Switch FC if you want to play online with me. Thanks!

My Nintendo: MarioLover

Burning_Spear

@Anti-Matter Agreed. I got fed up with ACNH three years ago and stopped cold after more than 450 hours. I picked it up for the first time Saturday, and all my villagers were still there, the message board only had one new message, and I think I had maybe three or four pieces of new mail. It was no different than if I'd been playing all along, save for more weeds and flowers, which I can deal with. With all the other Animal Crossings, my whole life revolved around playing at least once a week so I didn't lose my flowers and villagers.

Mechabot Ultror Fights Again

VoidofLight

Burning_Spear wrote:

@Anti-Matter Agreed. I got fed up with ACNH three years ago and stopped cold after more than 450 hours. I picked it up for the first time Saturday, and all my villagers were still there, the message board only had one new message, and I think I had maybe three or four pieces of new mail. It was no different than if I'd been playing all along, save for more weeds and flowers, which I can deal with. With all the other Animal Crossings, my whole life revolved around playing at least once a week so I didn't lose my flowers and villagers.

Ironically this is why I dislike New Horizons. It feels like no matter what I do, the game is fine. It doesn't need me to play- so therefore why should I? None of my actions truly matter in the end, and thus the pull to keep going and keep checking in is no longer there anymore. This- combined with a lot of other things in the game is why I stopped playing and never looked back. It's a dollhouse sim that has the skin of Animal Crossing, and I genuinely hate that direction.

"It is fate. Many have tried, yet none have ever managed to escape it's flow."

FishyS

VoidofLight wrote:

None of my actions truly matter in the end

To be fair, that is true for literally all games. But ACNH is definitely more self-motivated then most. I would argue the game gives you 3 main directions/goals β€” collect-a-thon, decoration, and sharing online. Getting the villagers you want (and friendship photos from them) isn't exactly easy, but in the end it is basically a subset of collect-a-thon and decoration, often using online friend islands to make it easier. collect-a-thons of any genre are fundamentally all get and no lose unless you choose to throw something away. It's less a life sim and more a paradise sim.

FishyS

Switch Friend Code: SW-2425-4361-0241

VoidofLight

@FishyS I disagree that all games are meaningless. A good amount of them have stakes or tales that make them worth it in the end. New Horizons itself isn't meaningless from a gameplay perspective. What I mean is that in terms of Animal Crossing, your actions are pretty much meaningless. At least- unless you enjoy the dollhouse sim aspects of the series and always hated the life sim aspects.

New Horizons strays far away from the appeal of the series for me. In previous games, what kept me playing was the charm. How it felt like this was truly another world that kept going- even if you weren't there to constantly play it. It didn't revolve around us as players, but instead we were apart of said world. Flowers would die, people would move. If you didn't play- the world would forget about you, as you would be locked away in your home most of the time.

New Horizons just doesn't give me that motivation to keep going. To keep playing. Most of the game is centered around being as soft as possible to the player. No consequences exist for your actions, and the world stops when you quit playing. It became a game where only those who are creative can truly enjoy it- while those who used to play for the original aspects of the series are left to flounder. Villagers no longer move away on their own, and flowers no longer die. It feels like the island is a hostage situation, where you get your few villagers you really want- and where the random aspects are completely gone.

I miss when villagers moved out on their own. How it felt like it was a microcosm of real-life, where you forge a friendship with it eventually coming to an end as the villager decides to leave in order to pursue something which would make them happiest. I miss when the holidays actually presented some form of slight challenge, instead of just giving you the rewards for doing absolutely nothing. I miss when the games had all of the content at launch, instead of trickle feeding updates that end up just being the developers trying to play "catch-up," with a lot of the older features still being missing in turn.

Maybe Animal Crossing 6 will be more like what I'm looking for- but given how well New Horizons sold, I'm sure they're just going to keep going down the path that this game is taking the series down. One where the game is vastly incomplete at launch, and one where a lot of the game's appeal is decorating your town- instead of having a blend of both town decorating and life sim aspects.

"It is fate. Many have tried, yet none have ever managed to escape it's flow."

FishyS

@VoidofLight Sorry, I was making a philosophical point.
I didn't say games are meaningless β€” they are meant for enjoyment which is a very good meaning. Or competition or even just wasting time. I just said your actions don't matter in the game because, fundamentally, it's a game. Whether you have or beat certain goals might affect your personal enjoyment, but the game characters certainly don't care and personal enjoyment varies by person. In the end, all games are basically doll sims of various types and you take from them what you want. That said, your actions can very much effect your in-game goals and that is just as true for ACNH as any game.

That said, I do understand your distinction with ACNH β€” it is definitely a world centered 100% on the player which makes aspects of the town and other characters a bit 1-Dimensional in some ways. I think the game is still oozing with charm, but it's definitely different. Life sims really vary between extremes of 'survival where you need to eat and pay taxes' down to 'almost complete control of the world'. ACNH has shifted closer to the second.

As for the way they trickled out free DLC... I suspect they had a target of when to get out the game. And they must have been polishing the art etc. We'll see in the next game if that has become standard or was just a one-off. Unlike some of the other aspects of ACNH, I don't think people especially liked the feature trickle, it was just how it was.

I doubt they will take away popular features like villagers-not-leaving (unless there is a setting for it you could change which would be really neat), but I could easily imagine them greatly changing holiday events.

It's honestly hard to guess... they can't just sell the same game so they will want to mix the formula up, but that may be a little unpredictable except for the inevitability of some form of improved online play. Maybe some of the things you like will return in some way or form. I really like the idea of there being different modes or settings you can play by... I hope they do that.

Edited on by FishyS

FishyS

Switch Friend Code: SW-2425-4361-0241

Anti-Matter

Here is the thing.
I like to keep everything after I work so hard to get them so I don't want to lose my precious stuffs.
For you maybe is a fun to see your villagers leaving by themselves, feel the losing of someone as a charm, for me I DON'T LIKE IT AT ALL.
It's simply insulting my hard work because I don't want that gimmick took away my efforts.
Just let my villagers stay FOREVER as long as I want until I kick them directly.
And the direction of Animal. crossing became more The Sims style, I like that direction very much than older Animal Crossing games.

Anti-Matter

Hyrule_Rainclouds

The series has always been about customization. Even in the first game, you could customize your character a bit, choose where to place trees and flowers, and of course customize your house with what furniture you used, what kind of layout, etc. City Folk and Wild World increased that a bit with Shampoodle and other features. New Leaf added a whole lot of new options, letting you choose where to place your house (to an extent) and a few other buildings, letting you unlock and place Public Works Projects (PWPs), letting you choose the exterior theme for your house and certain buildings, etc.

Some years ago, Nintendo released player data for New Leaf. From what I remember, Nintendo said that over 60% of all player towns in New Leaf used the Beautiful Town ordinance. I'm going to guess that some others would have also picked Beautiful Town if they hadn't had more pressing needs like needing to play earlier in the day (Early Bird) or later at night (Night Owl) due to school/work schedules or needing more bells to pay off their loans and finance PWPs and other things. Nintendo likely looked at this data and realized that the vast majority of players do not want their flowers to wilt and die. I had three New Leaf towns and used the Beautiful Town ordinance in all three, just so I wouldn't have to water flowers every day or risk losing them.

In New Horizons, even though flowers no longer wilt and die, your island can still become overrun with weeds and garbage (from fishing). Despite playing every single day and having the Beautiful Town ordinance in effect, I still get too many weeds! And way too many shells wash up on my beaches. It takes a bit to clean up just from that, even though I don't actively search out weeds or clean up the shells every day.

Two of my greatest frustrations with New Leaf were: Animal villagers moving in and plopping their house down wherever, usually on some of my prized hybrids or right where I'd been planning to place the Roost Cafe or a PWP and Animal villagers being able to move out whenever they wanted. I lost two of my favorite villagers because they just moved out. Even in New Horizons, I have a villager talk about moving out every five days or so! It's crazy how often they bring it up. I grew up in a small town, population 700 people, and it was incredibly rare for anyone to move into or out of our town. It's really weird and kind of grating that my villagers want to move out all the time. I know it's just a game, but it makes me feel like they really hate my player character and think our island is a toxic waste dump!

Before New Horizons came out, I had this idea about introducing a "Permanent Resident" type program. Once you had built up friendship with a villager, you could choose to make them a permanent resident and they wouldn't ever ask about moving out again. You could still kick them out using the campsite or amiibo or whatever, but they wouldn't actively try to leave. Maybe they could introduce a program like this with the next game? Maybe they could introduce a "Dirty Town" ordinance where flowers still wilt and die, garbage appears more often even lying around the town, weeds appear at a greater rate, etc. More options is always good!!!

Hyrule_Rainclouds

Dogorilla

I think it's mostly a good thing that villagers don't move out by themselves, I didn't like being punished for not playing the game. But on the other hand, in New Horizons I almost never have any changes in my island's inhabitants because I feel bad letting them go (especially if I deliberately kick them out for a campsite visitor), and I kind of miss the variety and sense of time passing that came with villagers moving out randomly and being replaced by new ones in the previous games. I have no idea what the solution to this problem is.

"Remember, Funky's the Monkey!"

Funky Kong

VoidofLight

@Hyrule_Rainclouds While the series has always had a focus on customization, there was always a balance that was struck between customization and life sim aspects. New Horizons has no balance. The content is only customization for the most part- and if you don't like it, you get a hollow experience of what Animal Crossing used to be. Sure, the museum and other features are there- but the fact that there's only one shop upgrade in the entire game sours things for me. Same with there not being any true online multiplayer (outside of visiting other people's islands).

While most people used the beautiful town ordinance, I was one of the 40% of players who preferred to not use it. I enjoyed having to water my flowers and actually check up on my town. Something which people seem to find "bothersome" now. I also enjoyed when villagers moved out, all because it actually felt like the world was changing around me. In New Horizons, there's this uncanny feeling that I'm at the center of the universe- when in the past games you were just some person living in a world that you had minimal control over. Even in New Leaf, a game that upped your control over the town, it felt more grounded than whatever New Horizons is doing with it's gameplay and world.

I just wish they'd offer options to the player. If someone wanted the classic experience, there should be a toggle for it or something. I hate playing the "new" Animal Crossing style, and want to return to the actual good gameplay of the original 4. At least those games offered something for a person who isn't into heavy decoration.

"It is fate. Many have tried, yet none have ever managed to escape it's flow."

FishyS

Dogorilla wrote:

and I kind of miss the variety and sense of time passing that came with villagers moving out randomly and being replaced by new ones in the previous games.

How about if some fixed houses are rentals so you have no control over a certain number of the residents as they move in and out but then the other residents you can have as permanent residents unless you boot them? It would be like a longer term version of campsites where you know for a fact they will leave but they stay for a lot longer and really live there for a while in the rental cabins.

Edited on by FishyS

FishyS

Switch Friend Code: SW-2425-4361-0241

Anti-Matter

Anyway...
Rather than keep complaining about ACNH for being more The Sims style and more player's control, I have accumulated more than 1000 hours gameplay. 😁
I spent a lot of time by making a lot of vacation houses for my clients at Happy Home Paradise with their theme.
The challenge is I have to figure it out how to incorporate their looking with suitable house theme. I can make them 10 x 10 room size for the biggest size option and can hold more furnitures but I prefer 6 x 6 size for quick design the room since designing bigger size room will take more time for me to think the best design as possible and the furniture placement.
Sometimes, I trolled some ugly looking villagers by give them ridiculous outfits and ridiculous theme house. And I laughed at their ridiculous house after finish designing. Not forget, I gave their house name with funny Indonesian titles like Rumah Hantu or Kuburan or Rumah Babi Hitam. πŸ˜†
Well, I got a lot of money (Poki) for keep making vacation houses and my current salary is 40,000 Poki.

I really wish more actual interactions with furnitures and the furnitures have their function to help the user satisfy their needs like The Sims.
For example, I have to open the fridge and start to cook because I need to eat since my Hunger level is low so I have a reason to interact with my fridge and my cooking stuffs.
Another example, I have to lay on bed if my Energy level is low to sleep or relax on the bed to get the Energy point back and I can speed up the time without waiting for actual several hours to wait my character wake up and the game still have it's real time flow even I have speed the time, just like we can do time travel by speeding up the time and we can go back the time anytime we want and no penalty by doing so.

If next Animal Crossing become Full 3D world exploration like Dragon Quest Builders + really The Sims game style, I will nominate it as the Best game ever since my gaming firte is on games like Dragon Quest Builders style + The Sims style.

Anti-Matter

FishyS

@Anti-Matter I only got to 600 hours. I would love it if you could sit on and interact with more of the decorations. I always wanted to ride the ferris wheel.

FishyS

Switch Friend Code: SW-2425-4361-0241

Anti-Matter

@Dogorilla
I don't even like my villagers moving out by themselves.
I want a Full control for the player who can decide which villagers stay and which will get kicked out.
My Sims by EA on Wii for example was one of Animal Crossing style game which you can hold until 30 Sims and they will not moving out by themselves. Instead, you take control about them. Keep them or Kick them as you want, totally control.

Also, I don't really care with villagers conversation variety as I like to speed up their dialogue since the other games also have similar dialogues all the time and I don't mind for having same conversations everytime I talk with my villagers.

Anti-Matter

Anti-Matter

@FishyS
Also, I want to see my character especially the boy character can take out their clothes (barechested) since the game have Boxing outfits and Boxing furnitures so I want to see my character running around with six pack (if possible) and boxing outfits. 😁
Come on, let me be half naked since on Dragon Quest Builders 2, you can wear swimsuit and the boy character is barechested.
And I would like to see ALL the Animal villagers dressed properly with PANTS or SKIRTS on it.
Why the villagers still have NO PANTS or NO SKIRTS like Winnie the Pooh? πŸ˜†
Give them full outfits and we can make them also barechested too for the boy villagers so i would like to see my boy villagers wearing swimming trunks with barechested walking around on the beach. Oh, gosh... They will look so good.... especially when they start to swim in the ocean or river or surfing on the sea.

Anti-Matter

Hyrule_Rainclouds

I think everyone has a lot of great ideas! I'd love to see some of them implemented. I really want to the ability to interact with more items like @FishyS said. They should bring back the summer island mini games and the in-game 3DS item Panel de Pon/Puzzle League mini game and in-game Wii U item Desert Island Escape mini game, too. I just want more items, more activities, more things to do, more ways to interact with the animal villagers.

@VoidofLight I do agree with you--more options to accommodate the needs and wants of more players would be awesome. I think there are ways around this. Before New Horizons came out, I had the idea for a hotel where you could have more animal visitors stay and even have an apartment house where short-term animal villagers lived. You could have a Permanent Resident type scheme like I mentioned above so animal villagers would still move out on there on, but for those players who prefer to keep certain ones, they could choose to do that. I've put over 1600 hours on my main New Horizons file, over 1800 total over 3 accounts, played every day since launch except for 3 or 4 days total, and I actually still have my original first 9 villagers! I've cycled the 10th out a few times, but I fell in love with the original 9 and just love being able to keep them. So I'd love for there to be an option for players like me, but I'd also love there to be an option for players like you who prefer to let the world cycle through on its own.

I mentioned above how most New Leaf player towns used the Beautiful Town ordinance, and I felt that was the reason Nintendo decided not to let flowers wilt and die in New Horizons. But after thinking about it, I think there's a bigger reason none of us have mentioned. New Horizons introduced crafting and added a whole slew of crafting materials. I think that's the main reason why flowers no longer wilt and die--they don't want players to lose any potential crafting resources. The cooking ingredients you can get also never wilt and die and grow back once you've plucked them same as with the flowers, so you have access to them anytime you want. Maybe the next game will remove crafting, I kind of doubt it, and flowers will wilt and die again. Who knows? I've really appreciated some of the changes they made with New Horizons and love having extra control, but unfortunately, some of those changes put players like you off. Here's hoping Nintendo can strike a better balance with the next game and bring back more of the feeling of visiting a world of its own.

I do agree with @FishyS that New Horizons was likely rushed and they couldn't implement a lot of the things they wanted to especially at launch. It was already delayed once, and with Covid, they probably realized they wouldn't be able to work on it as much throughout 2020. I know Nintendo also REALLY REALLY struggled with HD development in the Wii U era. That's one big reason why the Wii U failed, I believe. I have a Wii U and absolutely love it, but it didn't get enough games to attract enough buyers. Now with New Horizons (and to a lesser extent, amiibo Festival), they hopefully have a strong foundation for the next game and can spend more time on features instead of just graphics.

Hyrule_Rainclouds

Dogorilla

@FishyS That's a pretty good idea, and maybe the next game could have bigger towns as well so you could still have 10 permanent villagers as well as 5 or 10 rentals.

"Remember, Funky's the Monkey!"

Funky Kong

card-crunch78

One reason I prefer "New Horizons" over "New Leaf"? Mabel doesn't say anything awkward if you decide to wear a dress even if you look masculine.

🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸

gcunit

@Hyrule_Rainclouds I've been having the same thoughts about having some sort of relationship scale, and once you develop a relationship to a certain point, they approach you with the idea about setting down roots for good. Those you say no to, or haven't reached that relationship level, come and go old skool stylee.

We get a relationship scale in Zelda for horses...

You guys had me at blood and semen.

What better way to celebrate than firing something out of the pipe?

Nothing is true. Everything is permitted.

My Nintendo: gcunit | Nintendo Network ID: gcunit

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