Topic: Animal Crossing: New Horizons

@skywake I mean, I don't think people being unhappy with a game makes them entitled at all, but alright? I guess I'm entitled for wishing that this Animal Crossing game was more than a lifeless decorating sandbox. That it actually had consequences for not playing the game, and offered actual progression systems that made you work for unlocking things rather than just handing said things to you without having to put any amount of effort into it.

I do think the update and the Switch 2 Upgrade deserve criticism. The update itself addresses none of the actual issues the game had outside of introducing some quality of life functions that made gameplay a bit faster. It still doesn't address the fact that the game overly relies on it being a dollhouse sim, and doesn't add content that actually puts substance into the game. They still haven't fixed the golden tools breaking (which is insane, given that they shouldn't just be trophies due to how expensive they are to craft). The Switch 2 upgrade only serving to make the image look sharper is also a let-down, when the other Switch 2 editions (aside from Mario Party) actually boosted the FPS of their respective games as well. I get that Animal Crossing's switch 2 edition is cheaper, and most likely because the bulk of the content is in a free update and it doesn't do much to fix the performance of the game- but it's still a paid update.

Not liking that a product you're paying for isn't up to par with what it shouldn't be is not entitlement. This isn't a gift that we're being given. This is something that we're paying our hard-earned money for, and it should be held up to a higher standard due to that.

Somebody just keep complaining about ACNH for being lifeless sandbox.
Again, if you want to torture yourself by losing your villagers, just play the GameCube version and stop complaining about ACNH.
ACNH is already being The Sims style, more decorating aspect, less yada yada, this is what I want.

@VoidofLight I get what you're saying, for sure. That said, I don't fully agree.
While you and many other long-time fans of the series don't like how incredibly different this entry is, plenty of others love the change in style. It's really not possible to call the changes "issues" since they aren't objectively good or bad.
As far as the upgrade goes, I definitely agree that it could have easily been free, but I also think that 5 dollars isn't unacceptable. It's the very definition of "totally optional," if you ask me. I think the 30FPS aspect has to do with part of the game mechanics actually being tied to the frame rate, though — certainly they could be circumvented, but it's not quite so simple as it seems.
In the end, I don't think it's really worth a whole big argument about who's right and who's wrong.

@VoidofLight
I'd argue that complaining that a free content update doesn't cater to your specific wants is the definition of entitlement. We already knew what the new Animal Crossing was, you already knew you didn't like it. I doubt anything was going to change that

Same deal with others who are using it as a soapbox to whine about the Switch 2. As some are becoming almost professionals at

As far as I'm concerned it's a free update that adds content and features. Honestly for me the ability to easily clean areas of flowers and reset all the items on my island made it already worth booting the game up. The fact that there's now a hotel and random additional villagers can wander your island is a nice bonus. And I haven't explored the new items and themes yet

And the paid update, it's a resolution bump. It looks a lot cleaner on my 55" 4K OLED. I dont think this is a DLSS upscale, I didn't notice any such artifacts and I don't see why they would need to do that. Raw 4K/30 for this title is certainly achievable without DLSS here. But in any case, I don't care how they achieved this, the result is nice. And honestly the lack of a framerate bump for a game like Animal Crossing is a bit of a storm in a teacup

Is the Switch 2 edition essential? No. And I think it's fair enough that you didn't pick it up @FishyS given you aren't playing it on a 4K TV. But you don't have to buy it. Also the suggestion was that it was a shoddy DLSS upscale and is part of some kind of pattern of greed or something. Which is just nonsense. Especially given how cheap it was and how much of this wasn't paywalled

@skywake You can still freely criticize the content that they're including in a free update- and still feel disappointment in the fact that the free update is taking the series further down a path that you aren't happy with. I don't think it's entitlement to want Animal Crossing games to actually have stuff to do in them that isn't just decorating a dollhouse. It's fine if you're having fun with that, but it's no less valid when others aren't.

But yes, let's just flag anyone who doesn't agree with you as "entitled." Let's not consider where they're coming from with their arguments, or why they feel the way they feel. They disagree with something you enjoy for reasons you don't agree with- so therefore they're entitled.

I mean ... we're discussing the update. I personally am having fun with the free update so I'm not really 'complaining'. All I said was that it feels odd that they are giving lots away for free and then separately charging for not much else. It's like, here is a free hamburger but you can also buy 3 individual french fries for $2. Sure, $2 is not much, but I'll just stick with the free food and maybe buy a drink with that $2 instead. If Nintendo had put all the updates into the Switch 2 edition and charged 10 bucks that would have felt normal. If Nintendo had added the Switch 2 changes for free that would have felt generous but otherwise normal. I am curious why they decided to do it the mixed way they did from a marketing point of view. Maybe they did it to remind Switch 1 owners that they used to be obsessed with Animal Crossing so that they are more likely to buy a Switch 2 whenever a new Animal Crossing is announced.

@VoidofLight if you say "dollhouse" again I might actually crash out--

(I jest, of course, if that wasn't clear)

The Nintendo Life review of Switch 2 edition seems relevant to what has been discussed here:

'If it were free, I don’t think anyone could reasonably complain, but even at the relatively low price, it’s only just scraping by to be worthwhile.' -Alex Olney.

@CaleBoi25 "Dollhouse" is the best way to put it unfortunately, hence why I use it. The game is basically just a decorating sim with literally nothing else to offer outside of that. Other Animal Crossing games actually felt like a small window into a living world that kept going even if you didn't play. You had consequences for not playing- like villagers moving out on their own, flowers wilting and dying because no one watered them, weeds that actually were a negative instead of something that you turned into a craft or kept around because you wanted them for aesthetic. Giant ugly flowers you couldn't remove that attracted flies if you didn't manage or take care of the town. Roaches infesting your home if you didn't play regularly. Your hair turning to bed-head and having to actually pay out of pocket to get it styled again. Little things like that which actually kept you playing because it felt like you were actually taking care of a small pocket-sized garden.

Almost all of these things are gone in New Horizons as people complained about them in New Leaf and previous games. The things that actually kept you playing and made it actually meaningful are all sanded down and absent. Now the game lacks proper consequence.

Beyond this, you don't have things like proper progression systems. You don't have to work to unlock many of the shops or buildings in New Horizons if they were added via a free update. The hotel is an instant unlock when you have a fully developed island. They removed a tier of the museum completely so players could go straight from the tent to the full museum with the art exhibit (without having to donate a painting). There are far less house upgrades (in New Leaf you could increase the size of every room after getting every room, but now you don't have to do that anymore) and there's hardly anything to sink your bells into. I'm sitting on like 7,000,000 bells right now, since I have nothing to buy or use it on. It's enough to finance a second player's house in it's entirety at this point without even having to grind.

On top of this- you have the simplification of the Holiday mini-games that New Leaf had. In New Leaf for Toy Day you had to actually learn what your villagers wanted through talking to them during the month- and then try to give them the gift according to the hints that they dropped. In New Horizons they did the same thing, but this time you don't have to actually memorize what every villager wants. You instead just give them a random gift, and said gift is always accurate no matter what- destroying any chances of failure and any replay value that the event would have had for future years.

A lot of this game felt like the developers had little or no plan- or little to no idea on how to make all the systems they added via free updates work together. Bunny Day was the first holiday they added, and the only Holiday to be an entire week. After the poor reception that Holiday got, they ended up getting rid of Holidays being a week-long period and instead had them be only on the day that they originally happen upon. Harvey's shop island feels like it was meant to be an answer to players wishing that they had more shops to sink bells into- but all in all it was more frustrating than anything. Mainly because the inventory of these shops only refresh on a weekly basis- and it's shared with their inventory when they come to your island. Redd's shop takes out any need in having to wait for him to drop by with the Treasure Trolley, and it takes away yet another unique shop interior and it's vibe because of this. Then they introduced older mechanics like villagers dropping by your home (similar to how it used to be in New Leaf). It was a feature I wanted to come back for a while because it would happen pretty rarely in New Leaf and gave the villagers more of a lively feel- but now I wish they had never brought it back because it happens every single time I enter my house. To the point where when it does happen, I just stand in a room and wait until the villager leaves. They turned a nice little infrequent event into something genuinely intolerable.

This isn't even getting to the things they cut from New Leaf- like the smaller Holidays which were cut in favor of things like the Nook shop terminal just selling seasonal items- or how they cut multiplayer mini-games despite introducing 8 player multiplayer in the same game.. and then later 12 player multiplayer with literally nothing to do. Sure, 3.0 introduced group decorating- but it was still just more decorating. All of the content that this game has is literally just decorating.

@VoidofLight
I'm not entirely sure how it "takes the series further down a path". The update is an additional building and some QoL improvements, it's not changing what the game is. We get it, you don't like this version of Animal Crossing, it's not for you. But they were never going to turn new Horizons into New Leaf with one update. And even if they did I'm sure you would still complain

So yes, it's a bit entitled to be making these complaints for an update that didn't cost you anything. It is the correct word to describe it

@FishyS
I do kinda find it odd is that the issue seems to be that the payed update didn't have enough content when there's a free update right there. It's certainly unusual but what of it? Presumably if they had swapped the pricing around making the S2 additions free and the hotel/QoL stuff payed we wouldn't be complaining I guess? But that seems wrong doesn't it? Surely the more valuable bit being free, and also not to the exclusion of OG Switch owners, is ultimately a good outcome right? This is surely better for end users than what Mario Party got, for example

And for the people who care about a resolution bump enough to have purchased the Switch 2 in the first place for that reason? A few $ isn't too much for a sizable resolution bump for my most played game. Technically I paid more for the S2 Edition of Prime 4, which was basically the same thing as this. But if that isn't for you cool, you're not being locked out of content by skipping it. Which is surely a good thing

@VoidofLight I get all of that. I was just messing with you
I agree with a lot of what you say, but I also don't think it's fair to say the game is bad for being a different take on the series. I say this as someone who has ACNL as his most-played game of all time (though technically NSMBW might beat it out since I've literally been playing that since before I can remember I guess).

@skywake I'd argue that they should have either made the S2E free, or put more unique content into it. That said, 5 bucks is minimal enough that I personally will snag it, even if only so that my little sister can screech for Sylvia and get a response. (Ah the things we do for family, amirite?)

I hope it works for her. There was a kind of long side-section in the Nintendo Life review complaining about how the megaphone often didn't detect the name or detected the wrong name.

I don't want consequence for not playing the game for one day.
That's a STUPID gimmick ever.
The complainer who keep harping how wonderful the GameCube version definitely love being tortured.
I hate this antic mentality.
Just go play the GameCube version because ACNH is The Sims style game that I want.
I couldn't care less the progression or stupid gimmick from older gimmick.

Wow, this thread got busy today 😅. Popcorn time 🍿.

Anyway, I'm really enjoying the new Slumber Islands feature. I haven't started my own yet (I've been a bit busy on PS4 still), but I let each of my younger sisters start theirs with the two other slots and they are both enjoying it (I'm making them use Joy-Cons from the family Switch instead of my own, but still). They've both wanted to decorate an island in Animal Crossing for ages but have never really had the means to do it because of the one island per Switch thing (because all of the other family members share a Switch, I'm the only one who owns ACNH, on my own console of course). So, if anything, just the Slumber Islands alone are a nice feature, especially since I didn't need to pay any money for it.

Hoosha...!
I worked pretty hard and fast to decorate hotel rooms.
Since I get used to play The Sims games, I have no difficulty to decorate the room with certain objects.
It's enjoyable activity to decorate the whole island, free from stupid gimmicks of losing villagers for not playing the game for one day.
ACNH new standard just make three older Animal Crossing on GameCube, NDS and Wii looked the worst version to play.

One other thing that sorta bugs me is that some stuff looks fuzzy or blurry to me in the Switch 2 edition.

@VoidofLight While I did enjoy this game for a while back when it released, I pretty much agree with all of that, and it’s why I uninstalled the game after trying the update: It’s just more inconsequential dollhouse stuff that I was already tired of. I finished HHP long ago, it’s already boring freely decorating empty spaces. Even starting a new island a while back, the moment you get past the introductory bit and game credits the game loses all meaning.

@OmnitronVariant
Actually it's not boring to decorate the house if you have experience from playing The Sims.

Also, I want to say this thing.
Even I really like the decorating stuffs, I still have to work hard my butt to shape my island as my vision.
I did serious Time Travel to get specific villagers, exploit the art stuffs from Redd, speeding the process to the next days rather than waiting for actual days.
I have no time to wait, I don't care the intention of being slow pace game.
I want to make it quick and efficient because it took a lot of hard work to shape my whole island.
And when my whole island is really done, I can enjoy my hard work.
The villagers will never moving out by themself when I get hiatus from the game, I love it.
It makes all my effort get paid off with the stuffs that still stay same after I get hiatus.