Animal Crossing General Discussion Thread

[Okido]

With the recent 2.0.0 update to New Horizons, and its new DLC Happy Home Paradise, I felt like it would be a good time to make a thread where the Animal Crossing franchise as a whole can be discussed.

How do you like to play the games? Do you have a favorite villager/NPC? Any thoughts on the new content that the NH update brought? Still enjoying an older game in the series? Talk about it here!

 

[Welkamo]

I have been trying to get my NH island to 3 stars so I can get ordinances, but I keep getting side tracked by things such as wanting to catch all of the fish and wanting to pay off all of my PC villagers’ debts. By the way, all of them (save myself) are Pokémon character because Pokémon invaded all aspects of my life lol. So far, I have Wallace, Winona, Steven, Nessa, and Sonia. (Big shocker, I know.)

 

[Sheep]

I lovelove AC!! First time playing was the GameCube version that my friend owned back in junior high school, ahh good times. The first copy I got and owned myself was Wild World and I played that one to death too, along with my friend. Then I moved on to New Leaf (another wonderful game) and now New Horizons. The latest update is just great and I'm having so much fun with it <3

Favorite villagers are.... god I can't pick. Many!! My top is probably Willow, she is just too cute. I love her color scheme and cute little =< face.

 

[TheCapsFan]

Seeing as my first and only game in the Animal Crossing series was New Horizons, I'm obligated to vote for that one!

Creative-focused simulation games never seem to please me the way they do others. For example, if you put me in creative mode in Minecraft, I'd just sit there and say "what's the point?" So, I'm not super into the beautification, creative design aspects of Animal Crossing like many others are. I do, however, find the game incredibly relaxing for as long as it holds my attention. I enjoy catching bugs, and fish, and talking to the island residents to help them solve their problems. I just don't care a lot for the super-customization aspects.

I haven't played New Horizons in a hot bit, probably since the summer, but I think I'll give this new update a go, if only for the fact that I didn't play the game at all in the winter last year either, so that stuff should be new to me as well.

 

[Aulos]

I have played Animal Crossing since like a month after the GCN version came out in the US. I quickly fell in love with it. I had never played a life sim game before, and didn't know that there could be video games that click with me so well. I adored the focus on creativity, such as the ability to decorate your home and the patterns. I also loved the interaction with the villagers and how relaxing it was - aside from fishing and bug catching, there's nothing to test your reflexes and make you feel bad. No action, no violence. I loved it! Finally a game for me! =D

New Horizons is ultimately my favorite Animal Crossing game. The original has a special place in my heart because it was so fresh and new and was just such a unique experience, but it is very dated now. New Leaf was formerly my favorite Animal Crossing game after it came out, but then New Horizons came out with all of its new features - seamless outdoor furniture decorating (as opposed to New Leaf's very clunky system that was so frustrating I couldn't be bothered with it much), terraforming, and crafting. It really was something special. But the launch version of the game certainly was lacking beyond that, sadly. So much furniture from previous AC games was removed, and oddly enough, a lot that was removed was also furniture that was appropriate for outdoors. Decorating options were very limited and it made a lot of towns very samey in design. For me, I just kinda gave up ultimately. I initially wanted to use the Greek columns from previous AC games to give my town an ancient Greek vibe (sorry to be so predictable), but the columns that were in literally every single Animal Crossing game before were removed! D: Also I like having a Baroque palace style house, and the Roccoco series was nowhere to be found.

Well, 2.0 went and changed all of that. I am so blown away right now. Not even in my wildest dreams did I think they would actually give us an update with this sheer number of new and returning items!

Also, it now having Happy Home Paradise is really neat. Happy Home Designer was a really fun AC spin-off, and I always thought that merging it with a mainline AC game would be fantastic. This isn't exactly the merging I had in mind exactly, but it still is great!

NH's base new features were amazing and game-changing. Thus it was teetering on taking my favorite AC title, but everything it had removed was just bringing it down. Now it is missing much less. Sadly some things are still missing and some things like villager interaction are still poor (honestly, I don't think it has been good post-Wild World, so I'm used to it now sadly), so I wish they weren't stopping it here, but I will take what I can get.

My favorite villager? I have a long list of them. lol I adore pretty much all of the wolves, but Vivian and Audie are toward the top. I also adore many of the horses, with Cleo and Annalise being toward the top.

I made a tier list shortly after NH's release. Do note that it is not completely accurate to how I feel today, but still very accurate!:

Spoiler

 

[Welkamo]

GCN AC’s 2AM music slaps so hard like what the heck

 

[Okido]

I totally agree that the 2.0 update to New Horizons filled in a lot of the gaps that the base game had. There was a lot sacrificed content-wise between NL and NH, and it's still lacking a good chunk of it (I still miss you, Modern furniture set and T&T Emporium), but the improvements that have been made are definitely noticeable. I feel like it's finally starting to live up to its potential now. (Plus I love the new Gyroids.)
Happy Home Paradise is a lot of fun too! I thought HHD was good when it came out, but IMO the concept really benefits from being in the New Horizons engine.

Favorite villagers are.... god I can't pick. Many!! My top is probably Willow, she is just too cute. I love her color scheme and cute little =< face.

My favorite villager? I have a long list of them. lol I adore pretty much all of the wolves, but Vivian and Audie are toward the top. I also adore many of the horses, with Cleo and Annalise being toward the top.

Willow is adorable! I love the combination of the bright yellow with her pink horns.
The wolves are also great, especially Vivian. I have a soft spot like that for the cat, penguin, and rabbit villagers personally.

I have a lot of favorites too, but I think if I had to narrow it way down, my top two are Cube and O'Hare. They were my favorites in my GCN and New Leaf towns respectively, so I still like them a lot.

Sadly some things are still missing and some things like villager interaction are still poor (honestly, I don't think it has been good post-Wild World, so I'm used to it now sadly), so I wish they weren't stopping it here, but I will take what I can get.

This has been happening slowly for a while now, but I think one of the main problems with the villager interaction now is that their personalities have gotten incredibly exaggerated into just their one or two defining traits. Peppy villagers are more over-the-top than ever, the only thing lazy villagers ever talk about anymore is snacks, and don't even get me started on jock villagers...
And that sucks, because it makes for a much shallower experience. Part of the fun of older AC games for me was how alive my town felt thanks to my animal neighbors, and how each one of them felt like their own distinct person. But now, I find it's that much harder to really get attached to any of them.

GCN AC’s 2AM music slaps so hard like what the heck

omg I've never heard that hourly song before until now! Likely because I was absolutely not ever playing ACGC at 2AM when I was a kid lol. That soundtrack is still so great. I raise you 1PM, where cat meow sound effects are used as an instrument.

 

[Welkamo]

and don't even get me started on jock villagers...

I despise jock villagers with a burning passion. I'm sorry to people who like jock villagers, but they ignite feelings of anger within me that burn like... a burning fire.

Speaking of AC villagers, in the Gamecube AC, I remember going into Billy's house and just seeing... toilet stalls. Nothing but toilet stalls. It was such a surreal experience.

omg I've never heard that hourly song before until now! Likely because I was absolutely not ever playing ACGC at 2AM when I was a kid lol. That soundtrack is still so great. I raise you 1PM, where cat meow sound effects are used as an instrument.

I was listening to all of the hourly songs once when I came across the 2AM music. Since then, I have often gotten up at 2 in the morning just so I can listen to the music.

 

[Sheep]

This has been happening slowly for a while now, but I think one of the main problems with the villager interaction now is that their personalities have gotten incredibly exaggerated into just their one or two defining traits. Peppy villagers are more over-the-top than ever, the only thing lazy villagers ever talk about anymore is snacks, and don't even get me started on jock villagers...

I'm super sad to say I agree with this, especially for certain villager types. Jocks especially are very overbearing to have more than one of because of their dialogue.. I can only handle discussions about running a marathon and biceps so many times, it's very specific and a little tiresome to listen to continuously. Which is a shame because I love some of the jock villagers. But I think it's getting to the point where I need to decide if I want Kid Cat or Dom to move out, because having two of them is too much. I had Kid Cat in New Leaf already so he's the most likely candidate but I also feel bad because he was an amiibo my friend mailed me when ACNH just came out. Normally I'd say ok I can at least bring him back later, but I moved to the other side of the world and left my cards at my parents' house ;__;

 

[ZinnLav]

But the launch version of the game certainly was lacking beyond that, sadly. So much furniture from previous AC games was removed, and oddly enough, a lot that was removed was also furniture that was appropriate for outdoors. Decorating options were very limited and it made a lot of towns very samey in design.

I totally agree that the 2.0 update to New Horizons filled in a lot of the gaps that the base game had. There was a lot sacrificed content-wise between NL and NH, and it's still lacking a good chunk of it (I still miss you, Modern furniture set and T&T Emporium), but the improvements that have been made are definitely noticeable. I feel like it's finally starting to live up to its potential now. (Plus I love the new Gyroids.)

This so much.
While I like how New Horizons did new things with outdoor space, it really failed in the furniture department, removing tons of furniture sets and adding some pretty lackluster "DIY" furniture items (Simple Wood? laaaame). On release it's not the best game, though 2.0 did just come out, it's clear that it's improving on that vastly already, but that's no excuse for it happening in the first place (who's to say they didn't backpedal simply because fans complained). Also, as Orchid points out, they still didn't bring everything back, such as the fully upgraded shop.

Animal Crossing has always been an interesting series for me. I'm usually super invested in it for a few months before I eventually drop it. I blame the "play every day" aspect, it just burns you out. Plus when you do actually play there's actually barely any actual content. It's a cycle of "Is Redd here to sell me more fake art or real ones I already have?", "Wonder if the Abels or Nooks have anything cool at their shop?" and that's basically it.
I've never been a fan of games with no clear cut goal and the goals that do exist tend to rely heavily on RNG (such as finishing the musuem, collecting new DIY's or completing the catalog). Even making money from turnips frequently relies on RNG.

Though for some reason I still keep coming back to Animal Crossing and will probably still buy the next instalment and I've already purchased the DLC for NH (despite not liking how repetitive HHD was).
I really think the thing that holds New Horizons back is the island aspect itself. You start out with nothing at all and it always feels like it's missing more even after you upgrade (Like the whole city sort of area from City Folk & New Leaf), then you have the whole DIY thing I'm not a fan of, having to collect materials, it just feels a bit gimmicky.

 

[Welkamo]

Animal Crossing kind of forces me to be patient, and I’m not a very patient person lol. I’ve come to accept the fact that my houses/island won’t be perfect in a day, I won’t get a million Bells in one hour, I won’t complete the museum in X amount of days. I mean, I time travel (don’t come after me please I have a family), but that doesn’t mean everything is going to be instantly perfect. I kind of have to accept that it’s okay to not have everything be instantly perfect. (I haven’t 200% done that, but it’s okay.)

 

[Sheep]

I love being patient in games, though gonna agree RNG-focused gaming can be pretty tedious. I've always been patient with AC but the one thing I used to not be patient over was hunting for new villagers... if one of mine wanted to move out (that I wouldn't mind letting go anyway) I would time travel forward to get them to move out and then go nook mile island hunting. It was so just fun that I couldn't help TTing lol. Stopped doing that ages ago though, now I just take it day-by-day.

Not planning on blasting through the DLC either (no idea how long it even is), want to enjoy it for as long as possible since it wasn't that cheap tbh!

 

[Welkamo]

I’m bad at being patient in games. Like, I got bored in Platinum because I couldn’t do Contests yet. And don’t get me started on Tomodachi Life…

I sometimes wish I could enjoy the journey more.

Anyway I realize now that Winona in my copy of ACNH dresses just like “wholesome aesthetic Pinterest/Tumblr forestcore AC streamer” players lol. Like, jumper dresses and sweetheart dresses galore. She also has some business casual stuff. I’m trying to figure out everyone’s “fashion vibe” (Lots of fancy dresses for Nessa, suits and casual clothes for Steven, flashy outfits for Wallace, pretty coats and dresses for Sonia).

 

[Insanish Danish]

The draw of Animal Crossing for me is very much the animals themselves. I just get so attached to those cute little guys lol. The other stuff is nice, too, but ultimately when I play Animal Crossing my first priority is checking in on my animal friends and seeing how they're doing. I still play both New Leaf and New Horizons daily, even if it's just to say hi to everyone.

I have lots of favorite villagers (my tier list is basically "ultimate favorites" and "everyone else, who I still love") but my #1 favorite villager is Gala. She's just so sweet and precious. I love her flower crown and her big blue eyes and her floppy ears...plus she's a normal so she's just a huge sweetheart <3

 

[Welkamo]

I really like Carmen. I first met her back in Pocket Camp. I also like the stork(?) villagers, and I hope that one of them will come to my island some day.

 

[ZinnLav]

This has been happening slowly for a while now, but I think one of the main problems with the villager interaction now is that their personalities have gotten incredibly exaggerated into just their one or two defining traits. Peppy villagers are more over-the-top than ever, the only thing lazy villagers ever talk about anymore is snacks, and don't even get me started on jock villagers...
And that sucks, because it makes for a much shallower experience. Part of the fun of older AC games for me was how alive my town felt thanks to my animal neighbors, and how each one of them felt like their own distinct person. But now, I find it's that much harder to really get attached to any of them.

Oh and this too. If you have over 400 villagers and like 4 personality types per sex, at least don't have me seeing the same lines a week into the game (which I did).
I find it hard to like specific characters when they're all copies of each other (which is extremely obvious if you have two of the same personality in your town)

 

[Okido]

I also like the stork(?) villagers, and I hope that one of them will come to my island some day.

They're ostriches! Not many of them actually look like ostriches though lol. One of my favorite villagers, Cranston, is one of these, and he looks like a crested ibis.

If you have over 400 villagers and like 4 personality types per sex, at least don't have me seeing the same lines a week into the game (which I did).

Yep, basically my thoughts exactly. At first I thought some of that repetitive dialogue was just a side effect of being early in the game, but even now, almost two years in, I still feel like I'm being told the same basic tutorial-type info way more often than not (because yes, I had NO IDEA that I could bury Bells and dig up fossils, thank you for telling me for the hundredth time ).

The weirdest part is that there's apparently a ton of dialogue in NH — it's just that the method it uses to choose what topics villagers talk about isn't great. The first things they bring up each day are always weather, current events, visitors, rumors, etc., and only after you talk to them enough times will they eventually move on to something else, like requests. Only issue is that can get very tedious very quickly, and most of the time, I don't have the patience to mash through it all just to get to the good stuff...

 

[Welkamo]

Current Animal Crossing happenings:

• Trying to pay off Winona’s house debts until she has a top floor. Already did it with Wallace, though I might one day try to get Bells for basements. Basements aren’t a priority at the moment, though.
• It’s Nessa’s birthday. Everybody send your birthday gifts to P.O. Box 9847.
• Trying to find dresses that Wallace would wear.
• Trying to figure out how to decorate my island.
• Sheldon was replaced by Chrissy. Good.
• Trying to find cool furniture and wallpaper and stuff.

 

[Sheep]

The draw of Animal Crossing for me is very much the animals themselves. I just get so attached to those cute little guys lol. The other stuff is nice, too, but ultimately when I play Animal Crossing my first priority is checking in on my animal friends and seeing how they're doing. I still play both New Leaf and New Horizons daily, even if it's just to say hi to everyone.

I have lots of favorite villagers (my tier list is basically "ultimate favorites" and "everyone else, who I still love") but my #1 favorite villager is Gala. She's just so sweet and precious. I love her flower crown and her big blue eyes and her floppy ears...plus she's a normal so she's just a huge sweetheart <3

ahhh yes!! I love my sweet beans even if I have to let some of them go at some point (too many personalities of certain types). They're just super cute and I'm attached to them. T_T

One thing I really wish we could've had was being an actual animal when we play. I've always found it odd that we're the only human in the AC series, and occasionally think about how fun it might have been to create your own animal protagonist at the start of each series. Species, types of ears, types of tail, color, patterns, eye and mouth shape, etc! It just seems so incredibly fun.

 

[Neyo]

Would y’all recommend getting ACNH? I haven’t played any Animal Crossing games before, and I won’t be able to play most of the time on weekdays, but I am interested in the “developing a home and island” concept.