Topic: Animal Crossing: New Horizons

I enjoy the island decorating in NH. It's like making your own town, in a way - it's kinda like being the mayor in NL, but expanded upon with what things you can do/put on your island. The game does take place on a deserted island, after all, so that makes sense to me. Once I get my island to my liking though, that's where NH kind of runs out of steam besides donating to the museum and giving other players items. (For the latter, I like to think of them as side-quests.) There's still some stuff I wanna get for my island, so I'm not done yet.

Don't get me wrong, I love this game, just wish there was a bit more to it. But there will be - we just have to wait for the next major update.

@Cosmofantasmo There's two primary issues at play here. The first one is more general, as @status-204 very well wrote. The core problem here is AC is a long-running series. ACNH was hyped up as the next, bigger, better entry in that long running series. ACNL fans had a long wait between entries, probably due to the WiiU's failure.

But what ACNH is is almost a spinoff, not an actual AC game. It's a completely different genre with some bits of the old games thrown in almost as a decoration than as a core component. ACNH is a sandbox decorating sim placed in an AC world. It's more like Minecraft, Portal Knights, Dragon Quest Builders, ...Bethesda Fallout games, GTAV: Online.... etc like Anti-Matter said. As far as a sandbox building sim goes, I suppose it's a decent one. The problem is: Animal Crossing isn't a sandbox building sim series! It never was. It was a unique sort of "virtual life simulator" with a pseudo-RPG aspect to it, subtly. It's own genre of game. Only AC could be AC. You lived your live among the town, and the towns people lived their lives, and you interacted with them. It doesn't sound like much of a "game", yet somehow, it was! You didn't control much of anything, you just controlled your time in their town. You all lived in the town, and the town felt lived in.

ACNH is effectively not an AC game really at all. It's a completely separate building, no, you can't build much either, just a decorating sandbox game set with trappings that would otherwise be in AC. It's a sudden genre shift in a "numbered" sequel, and Nintendo never told us they changed the genre...we found out after we started playing and found there's little of normal AC to be found. Imagine if the newest Mario game were announced, and it turned out to be a real time strategy game? (Ok, that sounds kind of awesome, but you know what I mean....)

The second problem is that even as a spinoff decorating game, this is seemingly being released as "Games as a Service" - while ACNL and prior AC was a complete game in a retail box. I say "seemingly", because we really don't know what content they are or aren't going to grace us with at a time of their choosing for a game we already played.

As with most GaaS, game pacing is broken, because the events and activities in the game do not reflect your own play experience, but reflect business decisions based on business and monetization goals that have nothing to do with you. If you are right and the release all that content and more over a year or two, then maybe ACNH will be a wonderful game that far exceeds ACNL....in 2022. But for anyone who played it prior to 2022, it was an incomplete shell of a game. I actually put more hours in the same time frame into New Leaf because it was simply a more engaging game - more things were opening up, more things to look forward to, more to explore beyond just crafting tools, which isn't really what I, or most prior AC fans were playing for (because it didn't even exist.) It's not that the addition of the crafting is a negative - it's that they replaced everything an existing AC fan buys an AC game for with the other stuff instead. Normally what you do in the game, what you do in the world affects what characters appear, what stores upgrade, etc. This time no matter what you do, it has no effect on that. Instead things happen when Nintendo decides it will happen, and it happens both for the new player that just bought it and for the player that already played 300 hours at the same time - the events are decoupled from your own experience. That's really an argument against GaaS in general - but it applies to ACNH because AC has never been a GaaS series, they just pushed it on us unannounced this time, along with a genre shift. Splatoon (same dev team) is a GaaS - which makes sense, it's an online game, it benefits from introducing features to the community at specific points in community evolution. But it doesn't fit into AC - an offline virtual life decoration crafting sim.

If nothing else, if they do make good on "eventually" building a complete game, it makes the case that the next AC, and in fact nearly all GaaS games are best to not purchase until a year or two after launch, as you don't get a complete game until then. Maybe the add the department store next June - trouble is, I'll have long put the game away by then, so I'll doubtfully ever return to it just to see that. To me the empty island with 2 stores, a town hall, and 10 houses is the entire experience. That's everything the game offers beyond crafting and decorating. I can't judge the game by what it might be a year from now if they're treating it as a service. I can only judge it on the first 6 months since launch when I bought it. And right now, compared to prior AC, it's a very empty framework of a town.

Which is heartbreaking.

EDIT: But even if they do add it all back in - I fear it will still feel kind of empty and soulless. Because of the genre shift, nothing in the town can be very permanent. Everything is just a placeholder object for you to push and pull and manipulate as you choose. It's not a fixed town with fixed locations and a fixed life among the villagers. None of it exists because that's what the town is. It exists as a bauble for you, the world god, to manipulate for your amusement. It's a genre shift that kind of breaks the ability for the game to be what AC always has been.

Take, KK Slider for example. Sure, in both games he has his Saturday night concerts. On the surface, it's the same. But in ACNL there was a whole building in the Market district that was the theater. You weren't allowed in most of the time, only on Saturday show nights. Then you'd go down the stairs where KK had his concerts. Other villagers would be there. It made it a kind of special event, and a special part of the town.

In ACNH, he just plops a stool on the plaza. The same plaza that every peddler (that used to have a retail store in the market district) randomly plops their stall. Sure villagers gather there, as they do every day. But it all feels like pop-up "activity" with no real gravity. A whole street lined with stores and different "places" to be was replaced with a 20x20 brick tile to recycle for every single use in the game on a daily basis. There's little sense of "place" to it. And the villagers seem largely disposable rather than "the townsfolk."

@Cosmofantasmo I agree with you that if it wasn't for the pandemic, people probably wouldn't have lost interest near as quickly since they had more time to invest in it from the get go (I myself I think got in over 500 hours during lockdown 😳). That being said, I think that the terraforming was a great new feature, but doesn't make up for what is lacking which is that bond you create with certain villagers because they all seemed different vs this game where it seems more generic. I find myself not as invested in seeking them out and chatting with them or giving them gifts as I was playing NL. I DO have high hopes for future updates, though, and still enjoy redoing my island here and there (:

@FattyWhale_42 Thank you sooooo much! You are amazeballs!!! 😊

@status-204
I see. Can’t and won’t argue if somebody feels a certain way about something especially when it’s something beloved. But I don’t think that I don’t get it, it’s more like I don’t feel the way you do. But that’s okay for me.
What I feel is that terraforming and placing items over my island gives me the opportunity to build an environment where my villagers feel good and I can meet them in different situations. My island has for me a feeling of a community. And searching for new ideas and creating new projects gives the game longevity in my opinion.

@foxyflimflam
Miss you, hope all is well. Let me know if you need anything, I’m happy to help.
G

@foxyflimflam I'm willing to help out in anyway I can, as well! We don't have each other on our friend list though, is it okay if I add you?

@NEStalgia,

Each to their own I guess, as I have said I much prefer the new setup of gradually releasing content over time, and I feel the Island decorating and terra forming are real game changers, add this to the fact it's the best looking Animal crossing game ever, which of course is to be expected as the hardware is a lot better, but still it's important as viewing your Island creations and hard work is very pleasing.

I think a big reason is some see this as a game to be completed, which actually misses the whole point of the game, it's a cute life simulator, and as with days in real like some are eventful some are not, also people complain of missing features while at the same time stating nothing has changed, we can't have it both ways.

@Gret8888 You are too sweet! I miss you too! This baby boy of mine sure does take up TONS of time! But he is definitely a keeper 😊
@MarioLover92 Of course you can add me! I honestly thought we were already friends! Lol I currently suck since my time of being on are sporadic, but Im sure we will connect soon! Also going to let yall know my dream address once I get that going! (:

@foxyflimflam Ah it's okay. I've sent you a friend request - my username is MarioFan92

My Raymond and Sherb were doing Yoga together on ACNH.

Uploaded my island tonight, so if anyone wants to check it out, my dream address is 7685-8135-7036 😊

@foxyflimflam Good thing what happens in a dream, stays in a dream, because I did some damage...

Seriously though, you've done a lot since I was last there, and it all looks amazing as per usual. (>^_^)>

@FattyWhale_42
I’m roaring 😂
G

@FattyWhale_42 Omg!!!!!! 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

@foxyflimflam Thanks for accepting my friend request. We should play together sometime Assuming I'm not busy, of course!

@johnvboy What is it you think is better about GaaS drip feeds rather than the same content being unlocked at a natural pace relative to your progression? To me it's arbitrary. Imagine they do add another upgrade to the store. A natural pace is that your island has x villagers, x amount of money has been spent in the store, x amout of days have happened since the last upgrade, etc, etc, so the town evovles in response and the store grows. The drip feed idea is you've spent 600 hours in the game and owned it for 6 months, someone else spent, say, 20 hours in the game and owned it for a month. You both get the store upgrade tomorrow at the same time, regardless of playing very different rates, because that's the when the world progress dictates it should arrive. It's reacting to everyone else's play (or an internal marketing timetable) and not to your own gameplay.

I play, I do what comes to mind with the included content, I run out of things to do...and I put the game away. If they release a new store in 6 months....I'm not playing anymore, so I'll never really get to appreciate that content. It didn't come at a time that responded to my play. What actual benefit is there to that type of release that actually makes the game better?

" think a big reason is some see this as a game to be completed, which actually misses the whole point of the game, it's a cute life simulator, and as with days in real like some are eventful some are not,"

Ahh, but that's just it! OLD AC was just a cute life simulator. I think that argument would apply well to the prior games more than this one. That's kind of the trouble. This one isn't just a cute life simulator. It's a building sim. lt does have goals to complete. It tracks you through island development to unlock the tools. Then once you get them it kind of ends and says "well, that's all the content the game has, so just go create an island plan!"

But here's the thing: I don't intend to design an island plan. I'm not a creative type. I don't draw clothing or flags. I don't really have a creative mind for designing a complex island. I like the deserted island look. I built 2 log bridges. Paved a dirt path between the 6 houses that are close. I built a little cobblestone plaza with a bench and fountain. Paved a wood path between the two stores that I thought would become a larger market square, but now look like 2 stores stupidly stuck near each other. I got bored yesterday and paved a 6x6 dark dirt square with a bonfire, 2 benches and 2 tiki torches as a little camp fire area.....But it doesn't really accomplish much. The animals don't interact with it really. One sat on the bench....but that was about it. It's just kind of "there" for the sake of being there. Because nothing in the world has much point other than me shaping it like Wooly Willy (remember that?) and taking a picture.

I haven't really used the terraforming. I can't really think of a reason to have more cliffs.....or really less. I don't really need more waterways, they're nice how they are. I'd rather work with the landscape as it is than god-shape it all. And if I build more waterways that just means I need more bridges. At $100k a pop (why grind for a $200k fancy bridge when a log bridge is scenic and perfectly functional?) which means more grinding bells for more bridges I really didn't need just to have waterways I didn't really need. The landscape is nice...why not leave it well enough alone and enjoy it? You know, like you used to do in all the other AC games? It's not like I have more buildings I have to place nicely and make room and access to....I'd be removing trees and creating cliffs and rivers for....what? More paved plazas of trinkets I place?

See I'm doing the whole building sim thing wrong I guess. But that's the thing, I don't have many ideas for such things....which is why I don't really buy such games. Until they told me they were selling me a new Animal Crossing, and instead of a cute life simulator they gave me a building sim

As is, without seeing a need to make cliffs or rivers at all, and without making more buildings, just being able to pave and place items, I can't really think of more to do with the game...it's pretty much done. I wandered around the island for about 2 hours last night and all I could think of to do was build that silly campfire site. Other than that I just fished and captured bugs. You could say "well thats' all you could do in ACNL!, but that let you do it in a more "participating in the town" way with a much more personality filled town, because everything had a defined place and purpose and the town interacted with it. This one consolidated everything into one central square, more or less to not interfere with building, and "streamlined" most of the little features that otherwise were part of living in your town.

So in that regard, old AC didn't really have goals or something to "complete" you just experienced the town and existed in it as a participant. This AC is defined by something to "complete" - it doesn't really have much of an experience to just exist in like old games, it requires you to come up with the goal to complete in order to have a game. But if you don't really have a mind to craft some goal.....and there's less of a town to "exist" in....you just kind of wander aimlessly among the trees saying "yep, it's all still here....nice landscape..."

@NEStalgia
Oh, great... 🙄
You kept bashing how terrible was ACNH.
Let me tell you something.

I DO NOT want to experience with unpredicted things in old AC.
I DO NOT want to lose my favorite villagers.
I DO NOT want being clueless in Old AC.
I DO NOT like the way of playing Old AC.
It was Too Primitive and NOT fun at all.

Both ACNL and ACNH are very similar, building your town / island.
ACNH turned into building sim and So What ? I LIKE it more than Old AC.
ACNH have goals to do and So What ? I UNDERSTAND my missions and NOT being clueless.
You don't have decent skills to design and decorate things on ACNH ? STUDY from The Sims games and it will make you Enjoy the game.

I DREW my island map by pencil while measuring with my character, then i used Corel Draw to design my island map and i planned every buildings placement. I spent more than 7 hours to finish my map on ACNH.

I did some changes on some places until i found it was Perfect.

So DO NOT tell me if ACNH was really bad because of having goal, more building sim oriented and not having desigining skills to enjoy ACNH !

@Anti-Matter Making criticisms about a game you like isn't an insult, you know

That said, you're actually validating my points. You're specifically saying you don't actually like Animal Crossing, but you like this game specifically because it isn't really an Animal Crossing game and it's, instead, a building sim.

What you're saying is basically that you agree with me in terms of what they have changed! We do differ in that you're a big fan of building sim games, and I'm not, so for you this is a net positive change and for me it's a negative change. But we agree on the changes themselves. I know you like building sim games. But in the same way shooters aren't for you, building sims aren't for me. Which is why i don't buy building sim games (though i love dqb because it's not aimless like most!)

But i love Animal Crossing... And this isn't Animal Crossing. And since you don't like Animal Crossing (the gameplay not the world) that's why you like it more.

It's more like a spinoff, like a bigger sequel to HHD than it is to mainline AC. But they never said that. Imagine if instead of making DQB a separate spinoff series, DQXI was actually DQB.... The RPG fans would be crushed! That's what I'm disappointed in. If this were sold as Animal Crossing: Island Builders, I'd have known it was a spin-off and not the Animal Crossing mainline game I've been waiting for and skipped it.

I don't disagree with you that if you're the kind of person that likes that genre it's probably great. But that isn't me, and they took away the life sim that i do like.

It's not that I haven't had any nice time with it, but it's very very limited if you're not the kind of person that has fun just designing stuff.

@NEStalgia,

I do see peoples concerns, but I just do not share them, and you do go into great detail why certain things are wrong with this game, but again it's just not that much of an issue for me or many people that are enjoying the game.

I think a big reason you do not play that much is you are simply not interested in the designing the Island mechanic, which in all fairness is a massive part of the new game, just sorry that you are not getting as much out of this as others are, as you are obviously a big fan of the previous games.

But for me the new game still has the feel and charm of the older games, ( in fairness I never played the original and started my time with the franchise with "Wild World", and played every mainline game since then ) while at the same time vastly upgrading the visuals and custom design options, and as I have said I am a massive fan of the gradual updates as it gives the player something to look forward to, the game has always been a quick play every day when you get sorted on your Island, or now more intensive if you want to change something on your Island you are not happy with. the whole idea being you have a game that you can play for many years.