You Can't Access Seasonal Events In Animal Crossing: New Horizons By Time Travelling

Ressetti got a new job!

However. Hopefully you can time travel to actually attend events. I can imagine me now having much time to play on Xmas Day, whereas if I can go back from Boxing Day to enjoy the event that would be welcome.

I'm not sure I fully understand how it would play out. Like is this just a one time only check after the events occur the first time and then we can view them as we wish or is this something that has to be checked every year? Because if its an every year update this game has less longevity in the event department than the other animal crossing games if they just stop doing this sometime down the line.

@Desa Easily solved. No need to worry. When the time comes and no more events are planned a final update adds all events once and for all.

I'm fine with this, I never planned on time traveling anyway. Takes the fun out of the game for me.

Ah...!
I still not afraid to doTime travel, even i have to miss seasonal events.
Sometimes i'm too busy to attend specific Festival.
I get it now.
Nintendo want to direct us strictly with one way to enjoy the game.
But it will not stop me to do otherwise since i tend to be a rebel player.
I will find a way to take control the game.

@Anti-Matter I'm fully prepared to let the game control me. If I miss Christmas, then I can always wait until next year

Doesn’t bother me, I’ve never been one to mess about with the internal clocks. If I miss an event I miss an event.

No wonder they won’t allow save backups these guys are authoritarian dbags. They’ve basically implemented a light always online system that means this game is gutted if you’re playing for the first time after Nintendo kills Switch online support.

So if we can't time travel, does that mean we can have cloud saves now?

It's removed that chance to 'cheat'.

Y’all need to calm down haha and if you’re so mad about not having you’re precious cheats for everything then maybe don’t buy the game it’s as simple as that.

Good! Compared to how the internet was used in the past, we would have all this stuff spoiled within hours of release. I’m looking forward to just playing and enjoying the game, if I miss an event then so be it. It’s a game!

Just wonder if this also includes the Chinese zodiac animals.. Probably won't be playing this game for more than a decade.. How will we be able to collect the whole set of them now? (That is, if they are even going to be available or given out at all). 🤔

It's okay, I don't time travel anyway in these games, but it would be nice if they could later patch in the ability to play these events without an internet connection. I don't want these to be unaccessible after the Switch's online features are shut off like 10 years from now or something.

@CairiB Definitely agree, this is going to be a lot better.

We knew this already. Nintendo have always said that events are DLC. This means they can differ from year to year which is great.

Is everything in Animal Crossing tied to real world time? I tried the game on 3DS but it seemed like I could never go into shops as my game playing is limited to very early in the mornings and late in the evening. I never looked much further into it, but it did mean I drifted away from the game quite quickly as I had other things to play. Was I missing something?

So...this game basically requires an internet connection?

As the article fails to be precise about this, please note you don't 'always' have to be online for a holiday.

Just connect online at some point after the real date so the game knows and that it won't simply go based off the system clock.

@Folkloner eyah that was my question as well, since i probsbly be doing a lot of animal crossing on my way to somewhere..

this real time stuff is why i don’t like the series

@Trajan If you want visit other players (no locally)islands, houses or shops to order forniture or play together, yes. To acess seasonal events, yes. But for most of normal things in the game before 3ds era, not. The game is worthy even without online features.
@BionicDodo you missed time travel or just play it in a diferent fuse. you can change the time permantly to postergate the shops close time. This way, you can always enjoy the things, even it dont being compatible with your job or school time.

@gloom They could just not cheat!

@BionicDodo In most Animal Crossing games, if you don't play between 9 or 10 a.m. and 9 or 10 p.m., you're likely to miss events and not be able to access stores. New Leaf allowed you to create an ordinance that extended store hours to other times, to accommodate that. City Folk let you adjust the hours for Tom Nook's general store, though at the expense of inventory depth. I would imagine there will be such tweaks available in New Horizons.

I think this adjustment is fine. I wouldn't want to sign on the first day and run into someone who is peddling all the special items from the events scheduled for later this year. I don't think we're giving up too much freedom with this restriction. You can still time travel to any day if that's your thing, though it doesn't appeal to me.

@Burning_Spear Thanks for the info and much respect for the username/photo!

I guess this series will never be for me as family life these days means I have to play games when I get the opportunity, not at specific times.

Don’t mind really. I only time travel when I don’t play for more than a week to stop my animal villagers being disappointed with me.

I'm pretty sure most events run for 1 or 2 weeks. If you don't have time to play the game during these events, game goes on anyway. At most you'll miss a set of furniture or a fancy bonus item but get another chance next time as all events repeat year after year. Also, me and others collect everything there is going to be, so you will always find someone online to trade items with you.

This is a great idea!

They've turned this into a very complicated mess judging by that page. Basically no access unless you ask the server and the server says 'okay, it's going on now, I'll let you in'.
Seems like they really are going out of the way to make the events live-only and that's it. I wonder how exactly the events will play, hoping they don't go with Pocket Camp's style. (Mainline AC events usually don't last 12 days...)

It does sound good, but recently I had to take my Switch out of automatic date update because the government cancelled Daylight Saving Time in Brazil (one of many, many more stupid than that decisions). So the date was correct but I guess the Switch update would mark it as wrong and lock me out? I’m kind of worried about it because I don’t see a fix for that happening soon ( it was a mess for phones and Pokémon Go events too)

So... no offline play?

I don't care for that at all.

@dew12333 .

What business is it of yours how someone else plays their game? I used to time travel in NL when a crisis in a loved one's health kept me from playing for a month. I'd reset my game to when I had last played.

How is that cheating? How is that offensive to you?

They should include a "time machine" feature similar to the dream suite where you can visit holiday events that have already passed or maybe will occur in the next 24 hours. I mean really, I shouldn't have to break out my switch as the ball drops on New Year's just to fully enjoy every holiday in the game.

@fiben1002 Except you don't need to because the festivals / holidays now seem to last longer than a single day.

Well, this certainly sucks. I don't have the time anymore to play this constantly, so now if I miss a date, I'll likely never see certain items and events. Lame move, Nintendo.

@Archius9 I have been time traveling without any problems noticed as of yet, I don't think I'm going to apply that patch though as that might cause issues.

@Folkloner Hopefully that's the case

@Abstract3000 As I understand it, you can still time travel, you just can't use time travel to experience holiday events before their real world date.

My only concern is what if a holiday rolls around, and you happen to be offline? Does that mean no holiday for you?

@CairiB To be fair...if the data is already in the game with the update...that just means it's going to be datamined.

I don't really see how this will prevent spoilers.

Already managed to find a datamine of the event, so now I know everything about the event except the actual numbers needed to complete it.
Wouldn't be surprised if it took several days of play though. given the 12 day duration.

I have a question, do you need an Nintendo Online account to access the seasonal events?

@Dohogerse
The Japanese page has a chart showing Bunny Day -> doesn't need NSO subscription. But you apparently do need a free Nintendo Account though.

I don't really mind the locking of seasonal events. I'm happy to wait for them to come around with the calendar. From what I've seen so far, you could still time travel for the sake of other activities such as getting works built and the likes.
All I'm wishing right now is that I was one of the lucky few with the game already

It's ok because I can actually time travel in real life.

@bluesun thanks! Lest hope it stays that way, would suck if we had to pay for that now.

@Abstract3000 wouldn't that rob you of all future events though?

@Dizzard it won't entirely. Bit Halloween spoilers will come out in October not in march

How about you let people play their games the way they want? Spoilers are already happening thanks to data miners.

My wife and I only time travelled backwards to catch up on stuff we missed. Interestingly enough it was holidays where we didn't have time to play the game because of real life events. Probably won't be a big deal though.

Rather than Nintendo saying NO to cloud saves for Splatoon, Pokemon and Animal Crossing.. why didn't they host user data on their own servers? Something backend that don't see or interact with.. like how Fortnite and other free-to-play games operate. We don't have cloud saves for them, they have their own serves and logins.

I'd much rather sign-in to Animal Crossing and have it have back up to an external server, than to worry about what happens to my town if my Switch dies, gets stolen or I get a new device.

I understand that it could limit the lifespan of these games tremendously if they're server based user data, but they could always make contingency plans that come in to effect after so many years, it could turn on cloud saves when they discontinue the servers? Just spitballing ideas out, because I find it ridiculous that Nintendo wants us to pay for Online, yet some of their titles don't offer common amenities.

@Skunkfish that sounds very disturbing....'i'm okay with the game fully taking control of me ' -like bro chill O _ O it's a darn game...not something that will give you life. remember the outside world lol

Hmm..well i'm not into time traveling at all, i just find that to be sh*tty move, buuut if it ever comes down to it and i am force to do so then i shall do it which is very rare thing to do for me.

I will try to get this update on time. o U o and if i miss an event then i'lll just wait until next time not unless it's one of the limited time events then i'll cry about it but eh shrug when can you do about it?. I don't want to time travel just because of that. It has to be for a good reason.

Uhh i've been enjoying the game and i have to say; it's fun but i don't like how you cannot use your sylus pen on the darn custom texture application option of the game :/...that really bummed the heck out. I find it awful how they took that feature off of the custom texture and added to the most useless thing in the game which was the darn board where you write down stuff which hardly anyone does at all. -like why would you do that? stupid move on their end, but other then that i am loving the game, and i can see why they allowed compatability to download qr codes from previews games --3ds :3..i can see why...but like still.

@Mountain_Man

Not sure as of Yet, I only roll the date once or twice a day that I actually play, and only roll a single day in advance at a time. Though In New horizons it appears that seashells keep reappearing throughout the day, and there are several other things to do, so probably less with this game than the previous titles.

I read it as the new update they are pushing out is whats fixing it so you cant time travel to holidays but I could be wrong, either way I don't have any console connected online and have no interest in doing so, So if thats the case that they want server side validation, I won't bother buying the Physical copy and just stick with the Rom. If however they decide to allow for holidays offline this will be the 1st title I only have to buy 1 copy of, all the others I purchased 2 to get all the fruits In this one you travel to random islands with Nook Air Miles and have the ability to collect them that way.

@Desa Obviously it's too early to tell, but by the time they stop doing events for the game, they could easily unlock the content permanently to avoid that issue in the future. But by then, the next Animal Crossing would probably be out and not many people would care.

@BionicDodo Yes, the entire game is tied to the real world clock. It's surprising you wouldn't have known that. Anyway, the newer games have ways to work around that. New Leaf had mayoral edicts that you could make your town a "night life" town so they'd get up later and go to bed later and shops would be open late or an "early riser" town, which would have been good for you, making the town wake up hours earlier.

With the new game, the mayor's office town works stuff as well as the Nook Mart services have been rolled into one place, Island Services, which is open 24/7, so you can always buy essential goods and sell anything. As for if it has the night life/early riser element, I haven't heard, but I assume so.

@Mountain_Man You can play offline virtually all the time. It just checks your clock for the holiday events. So, yes, there is offline play for 95% of the year.

@Deltath Yes, but what if you happen to be without internet when a holiday arrives? It sounds like you'll miss out on it entirely. And what about in the future when Nintendo ends support? People say, "Well, they could always patch it so that holidays are always available," but what if they don't?

@fiben1002 @Trajan It sounds like the holidays will be 1-2 weeks long, so you don't have to break it out as the ball drops.

@Mountain_Man For better or for worse, the point of the game is to experience it in real time. If you miss an event, that's part of the game. That's why the townsfolk will comment on you not being around, weeds will grow, cockroaches invade your house, etc. Not being able to be there all of the time is literally a mechanic of the game. Some people don't like that, I understand, but it is the way the game is. It's not like countless other games, both online and offline, don't have similar things like limited time events at particular times of the year. It also creates a much larger global sense of community for the players when everyone is experiencing it together.

As for what happens when the services shut down. Well.. yes, the easiest answer is they'd patch it in. But if they don't, even the Wii had updates and internet for close to 13 years. And that was on an outdated online model that was ditched with the Wii U. Support for this game ending is likely to not drop off until well after the next game or two in the series are out. And at that point, the number of people who want to play Bunny Day but didn't get to in the previous 10-15 years will just have to get over.

@k8sMum Aww didums does it make you feel a bit cheap by cheating your way to success. Good luck in the future!

This pisses me off to be honest. It isn't like these are huge events that need to be secret, and it is incredibly likely that I won't have an internet connection for my Switch on the days for these events.

@dew12333

Wtf are you babbling about?

How is setting the clock back so I could play through the time I missed whilst my husband was in hospital be cheating? What success? It's Animal Crossing, diddums.

@stevenw45 A message from ACNH seen in a datamine:
"The system is set to a date outside the supported range.
Please close the game from the HOME Menu and restart after
setting a date between 1/1/2000 and 12/31/2060."

@presenttense Nice! 🤯

People should not be surprised that a real-time live service game in 2020 requires online checkups to participate in real-time live events.

I really don't need Nintendo keeping me in line for Animal Crossing events. If I miss a day and really want to go back, that should be up to me.

@dew12333 its a game, don't be a rude, take that attitude of yours somewhere else.

This blows, we aren't getting any younger and don't want to wait months to access some event or content

@Deltath "For better or for worse, the point of the game is to experience it in real time. If you miss an event, that's part of the game."

Missing an event because you didn't have time to play is fine. I don't have a problem with that. Missing an event only because you happen to be without internet bothers me, at least in principle.

@westman98 I don't know what you mean by "a real-time live service game". This isn't an MMO. It's essentially a single player game that can be played offline at your leisure. There is no technical reason to require online checks. It's purely a design decision to prevent "time travelers" from experiencing future holidays and special events.

@k8sMum I originally wrote five words, you started the babbling! And it was just my opinion that didn’t deserve your abuse for. Anyway just do whatever you want, I don’t have a clue why I bothered you that much.

@dew12333
And I asked what I thought was a legitimate question, without insult.

To which you replied: Aww didums does it make you feel a bit cheap by cheating your way to success. Good luck in the future!

Now you tell me which was abusive?? It doesn't matter. The diddums cracked me up, so thanks for the laugh.

@Archius9 They did say the events are going to last multiple days now instead of only being able to do it one day a year, so playing it on a different day should be possible at least.

@Kalmaro How about you let developers make their games the way they want?

Animal Crossing always has and always will be based on it's real-time mechanic. If people don't like that mechanic they should consider that it isn't the right game for them.

@Mountain_Man Once the content is in the game it's in the game. The "future proofing" people keep working about seems compleltly ill-informed to me.

After a holiday is released, it's released. The next year it's there because it was added the previous year. It'll be cool if they support it for a few years adding more content to existing holidays or more small holidays, but once the game stops being supported a few things still happen:

1) They can release a final patch to release anything that ensures events are only accessible for a set amount of time using their servers.
2) If the game simply checks that the server date has passed no worries, 7 years after is definatly past.
3) If things still do require checking a server for time, running a server for a time check is... very very cheap. I promise you Nintendo is using a system clock on some server for other things already (such as their mobile games). Ending support for this game won't stop it from checking a system clock on a server.

@TecmagDiams When did I say they couldn't do what they wanted? I just questioned their logic, which seems very flawed.

@Deltath @Deltath If the point of animal crossing is to experience it in real time then why have they always added time traveling. I think there is nothing wrong with time traveling and its not “cheating”. Its just an additional feature of the game. Its nice because some people actually have lives outside of animal crossing and cant always play in real time. So if they miss something they can always go back. If you want to play in real time thats fine and a good challenge but its actually really fun to use time traveling. I really hope that new horizons will allow players with busy lives to be able to experience the events in their own time and not during a limited time. Its always been a feature of the game and one of the reasons I enjoy animal crossing. Also why is everyone so butt hurt on people time traveling or not time traveling. Since when did the way other people play the game influence your own individual experience. Its should be unique to everyone and New Horizons should allow for the option and accommodate for all the types of players and fans. Like its always done!

@TecmagDiams No,I think you are just flat out wrong. If its about experiencing it in real time then why has time traveling always been a feature? Like it wouldn’t be a feature if the game was supposed to be played in real time. It’s just an extra feature that can make the game more enjoyable depending on how you prefer to play. Its a preference. And the fact that many people use it should have no effect on your personal experience. If the game is more enjoyable for you to play in real time then by all means you can do that. But for many people who have busy lives outside of animal crossing (which nintendo has always been aware of and accounted for, therefore adding time travel), time travel is important. People are saying “well if you miss an event, then you miss it.” Like no. Animal crossing has never had this problem and allows people to experience the holidays in their own time. I dont want to wait till next year to just miss it again because im busy. Animal crossing is supposed to be a game for us to enjoy at our leisure and I have always enjoyed it because of that because I got to experience the way I wanted to. Just stop being butt hurt people and realize that its a game for many diverse players with different preferences.

@FTPinkRabbit @FTPinkRabbit Yesss!! Thats how its always been right? So why change it now to prevent the supposed “cheaters.” The time travel feature isn’t cheating if its deliberately allowed as a feature, created by developers. Time travel is a feature in plenty of games and has never been seen as cheating in other games.

@ladyquietbottom First of all, I was explaining why it is the way it is and the rationale behind it. I wasn't saying people are the devil for doing stuff like that. "Time traveling" as you call it has always been considered an exploit by Nintendo, they just don't know how to stop it without making the game online only, which they're not going to do. The next best thing, from their perspective, is to minimize the gains. No events, spoiled turnips, weeds everywhere, etc. Also, the argument that "some people have lives" is never going to really work, because the game is designed to played as intermittently as you want. People want to play it and have whatever they want whenever they want, which isn't what the game was designed to be. I'm not saying you have to like that, I'm just telling you what the creator of the game has said (albeit paraphrased). It's meant to be a real time social simulator and even if they know they can't prevent people from exploiting, they'll at least get people together for events. And they argument that game companies shouldn't tell you how to enjoy your game or how you can play is also kind of preposterous. Games have rules. They wouldn't be games if they didn't have definite methods of play that are used to designate the parameters of the game. And the creators get to decide what those are, because they make the game. For the same reason you can't just pull out a gun and start murdering animals in Animal Crossing, you can't do things like time travel to events now. It's not in the game's code to let you.

And again, no one said you have to like it. I've certainly played many games before where I encounter something and say "oh, man, I wish I could do it this way, but I can't, oh well". The only difference here is previously people found an exploit to do it anyway. Now Nintendo has (kind of) patched it out.

@k8sMum Hey I am so pleased at this time that I have made someone smile so I apologise for being rude, and I hope you enjoy your gaming in whatever way you choose to. Take care

@Mountain_Man I don't disagree. It would suck. But I think the benefits outweigh the overall downsides. And that's also probably why they use a two week window for the event rather than one literal day like real holidays.

@ladyquietbottom
Technically it's not a feature in this title, there is no in game option to change the time and date, you simply change the Switches System Time/Date.

Personally I think it's dumb. I get people don't want spoilers, but for an $80.00 single-player game that doesn't allow you to have multiple islands on one switch... i'd personally like the whole game to be there when I buy it. It just makes it feel unfinished, especially when half the updates have been adding mechanics into the game that all the previous games already had, for example the art-component of the museum and swimming. There's only so much you can do in a day-cycle of Animal Crossing anyway, having the whole game in there all at once just extends the lifespan of the game for me, whereas in the current system, it just results in frustration.