A message to the Original Game fans, and why you'll never get another "perfect" AC game like the original.

[JKDOS]

I completely agree, and I feel like that’s why people complain so much. We of course know that each game isn’t going to be a carbon copy of the previous. But when so much is missing it’s hard to not take note. Especially when in the beginning we all paid 60$ for an incomplete game. I understand the idea behind updates, that it gives you things to look forward to. But if Nintendo is going to make us pay 60$ for game then we want it to be worth it. The game has to be worth the price that we’re paying.

To be fair, the updates are free. If they charged us extra for the holidays, diving, art, and the others, the $60 price would start to seem outrageous. Every update we get is included in that $60 price tag

 

[daffodilcrossing]

To be fair, the updates are free. If they charged us extra for the holidays, diving, art, and the others, the $60 price would start to seem outrageous. Every update we get is included in that $60 price tag

That’s true, I’m glad there’s no DLC that we have to buy. But I do feel like the updates contribute to the feeling of lacking because we didn’t start with the whole game, and each season we just kinda guess what we’re gonna get back from old games

 

[Monokuma73]

To be fair, the updates are free. If they charged us extra for the holidays, diving, art, and the others, the $60 price would start to seem outrageous. Every update we get is included in that $60 price tag

They are not charging us - true, but diving and art was existing before and with those "free update" we haven't received something new + extra and just features known from previous iteration of AC. I realise it looks better if they promise "free updates" and many people, especially new players are happy, but I personally could be grateful for updates bringing something new, not only copy + paste from the past.

 

[JKDOS]

They are not charging us - true, but diving and art was existing before and with those "free update" we haven't received something new + extra and just features known from previous iteration of AC. I realise it looks better if they promise "free updates" and many people, especially new players are happy, but I personally could be grateful for updates bringing something new, not only copy + paste from the past.

I hear you. I wouldn't even consider diving or art to be updates. Just delayed features.

 

[Monokuma73]

I hear you. I wouldn't even consider diving or art to be updates. Just delayed features.

Interesting... "delayed features". No further comments.

 

[tajikey]

Interesting... "delayed features". No further comments.

Would you have rather the entire game be delayed? I imagine had the world not turned into what it did as the release date approached, Nintendo would have pushed it back; COVID more or less forced Nintendo's hand into releasing the game earlier than they may have really wanted. COVID also afforded many players more time to play the game, making the game seem shorter than it really is, or lacking things Nintendo didn't have time to include at launch.

This is going to sound harsh, but I think those players that have put hundreds of hours into the game don't necessarily have a soapbox to complain on, seeing as they seemingly found enough content to spend that amount of time playing. Could there be more things to do, sure, but what game have you played where that isn't the case?

 

[Ganucci]

2. I'm not surprised, why some players call ACNH "New Leaf 2.0" - the reason behind this may be related to many things just literally copied from NL and this makes some sort of confusion... if it's still the same game, but slightly updated or not.

This is an interesting idea. I think each game builds off the last in most ways and as I said in a post on a previous page, I personally believe Nintendo has moved the focus of each game in different directions based on what they heard from the people who played.

This being said, I wouldn't call New Horizons, New Leaf 2 because it just doesn't feel like New Leaf. I hope someone can help me explain why I feel that way, but I do. However, I would call Wild World and City Folk, Animal Crossing 2 and Animal Crossing 3 respectively, because I feel like their focus is very much the same as the Gamecube title and also those games just, again, feel, like they are continuations.

 

[MidnightAura]

Would you have rather the entire game be delayed? I imagine had the world not turned into what it did as the release date approached, Nintendo would have pushed it back; COVID more or less forced Nintendo's hand into releasing the game earlier than they may have really wanted. COVID also afforded many players more time to play the game, making the game seem shorter than it really is, or lacking things Nintendo didn't have time to include at launch.

This is going to sound harsh, but I think those players that have put hundreds of hours into the game don't necessarily have a soapbox to complain on, seeing as they seemingly found enough content to spend that amount of time playing. Could there be more things to do, sure, but what game have you played where that isn't the case?

The game wasn’t released early. It was delayed. Well some people got the game a day or two early because of the pandemic and shops closing, but Nintendo didn’t release the game early as a whole. It was always going to be a March release following the delay. I actually think the game would have benefited from a delay. A delayed game will eventually be good, a rushed game may never recover.

I have played since release, I have over 700 hours logged. I took a break in the summer of about 4 weeks. I also restarted my island and the beginning is slow. I think I can still give feedback about the game. I found stuff to do of course but I don’t time travel and I Wouldn’t say I’ve overdid it. I play other Animal crossing games and other video games. I know people who gave up on the game shortly after inviting KK and or getting a 5* island. Their criticism is valid too.

 

[tajikey]

The game wasn’t released early. It was delayed. Well some people got the game a day or two early because of the pandemic and shops closing, but Nintendo didn’t release the game early as a whole. It was always going to be a March release following the delay. I actually think the game would have benefited from a delay. A delayed game will eventually be good, a rushed game may never recover.

I have played since release, I have over 700 hours logged. I took a break in the summer of about 4 weeks. I also restarted my island and the beginning is slow. I think I can still give feedback about the game. I found stuff to do of course but I don’t time travel and I Wouldn’t say I’ve overdid it. I play other Animal crossing games and other video games. I know people who gave up on the game shortly after inviting KK and or getting a 5* island. Their criticism is valid too.

I didn't say anything about it being released early, I said Nintendo may have been forced to release it before they wanted to (the assumption being them delaying it beyond 3/20) because of the global pandemic. And considering it became a viral phenomenon due to quarantine, they chose wisely.

And to your second paragraph, feedback and complaining are two different things, except that they're both subjective.

 

[Monokuma73]

Would you have rather the entire game be delayed? I imagine had the world not turned into what it did as the release date approached, Nintendo would have pushed it back; COVID more or less forced Nintendo's hand into releasing the game earlier than they may have really wanted. COVID also afforded many players more time to play the game, making the game seem shorter than it really is, or lacking things Nintendo didn't have time to include at launch.

I know a magic word called "transparency" - Nintendo could admit, just clearly say about missing features and give a promise of implementation in the nearest future. I'm not buying any excuses.
If product in unfinished - it's unfinished, period.
I do understand, COVID hit entire world, but still transparency is not an extra luxury.

This is going to sound harsh, but I think those players that have put hundreds of hours into the game don't necessarily have a soapbox to complain on, seeing as they seemingly found enough content to spend that amount of time playing. Could there be more things to do, sure, but what game have you played where that isn't the case?

I put hundreds of hours, so far I got about 850+ hours spent with ACNH, so I'm not a newbie, and I'm so far from blind worship, just because it's Animal Crossing. I like this game, but still have own expectations, I know history of release and updates and expressing my opinion.

 

[avieators]

as someone who has deep fondness for the original animal crossing, and for the franchise as a whole...acgc was in no way a "perfect" game, it had unique things abt it that lets it hold a special place in my heart, particularly the music it was also my deceased grandmothers favorite game i'm honestly not sure where all the complaining abt acnh is coming from, i'd say it could be a lot better (mostly adding features from new leaf, and...a reach, but perhaps a way to get to the city from city folk?) but i've put over 1000 hrs into nh as it is now and its fun! it might not have all the things it needs to have right now but its still fun. i did like how some villagers got a little more vitriolic in acgc but, as i've developed major depression and anxiety in the years since i've played it, i dont really think having my cute animal friends say mean things if i talk to them too much would be the best thing anymore my one complaint is that its really not fair to resetti, like him saying mean things is allowed bc thats just His Character and i want to see him again ;w;

 

[Matt0106]

I know a magic word called "transparency" - Nintendo could admit, just clearly say about missing features and give a promise of implementation in the nearest future. I'm not buying any excuses.
If product in unfinished - it's unfinished, period.
I do understand, COVID hit entire world, but still transparency is not an extra luxury.


I put hundreds of hours, so far I got about 850+ hours spent with ACNH, so I'm not a newbie, and I'm so far from blind worship, just because it's Animal Crossing. I like this game, but still have own expectations, I know history of release and updates and expressing my opinion.

It’s possible that Nintendo isn’t being quote-on-quote “transparent” because they know what’s returning and that fans will maybe eventually get what they want. An example of a game that really benefitted from updates was Splatoon 2. That game was pretty much as barren as the original, and the updates really turned it into a fully fleshed out game. Perhaps Nintendo just doesn’t want it to be a one-and-done deal for fans, and wants them play it for more than one year.

But then again, the way they operate is very much a mystery, so this is just my personal, optimistic opinion.

 

[LittleMissPanda]

The original is nowhere near perfect. With its three-item storage limit, the inability of taking off your hat/the fact that your hat always matches your main shirt pattern, lack of house exterior customizations (the closest thing to it was being able to place a pattern on the door, kind of acting like a doorplate) 40 fish and 40 bugs only, the fact that getting fossils appraised was a two-day process (first, you have to mail fossils off to the main museum, then wait a day till you get the results back) villagers having zero interactions with their surroundings (the one thing they would do is stare at a bug and follow it around sometimes, which was a great way of pinpointing those pesky mole crickets) even if villagers could talk with one another there was no way of joining in on their conversations, but it's cute to see them suddenly stomping around angrily or skipping about happily lol

And many other things I could point out. But even so, the original just has so much charm that it kind of balances itself out. The dialogue just felt so real and so much more entertaining and full of emotion, you know? Villagers being rude? That's them actually having some SOUL and not just praising you all the time. Don't get me wrong, they do form friendships with you but they talk to you like their bro and not a KID. You guys become bros!

It's interesting how they would also talk about romantic relationships (at least the snooties did, and I think also the peppies) like they had boyfriends and whatnot, though you never really meet them. Crankies were literally just that: cranky.

I'll always be fond of the original, especially its hourly soundtrack. I never get tired of listening to it and it never gets annoying to listen to even during a long session, unlike the soundtrack in NH (idk, there's just something about the main instruments used and how it starts to sound really grating to the ears and overall dull. IMO the only exceptions to this are 5am, 7am, 8am, 9am,11am, 12pm and 6pm)

I'd say, just let people like what they like and play what they like, whether that's the OG game, WW, CF and NL or just NH, or even PC. The nice part of it all is that we can always go back to the games we like anytime we want. Problems arise, however, when we compare games to one another. Just take the game for what it is and what it has to offer. No game is really perfect, not even NL no matter how much people praise it as the holy grail of AC.

 

[Manah]

This being said, I wouldn't call New Horizons, New Leaf 2 because it just doesn't feel like New Leaf. I hope someone can help me explain why I feel that way, but I do.

Don't know if you feel the same, but for me, it's NH's lack of the "life" part of life sim. I've only played NL before, but I felt attached to every villager. I felt like I was part of a world. In NH on the other hand, I barely interact with anyone anymore for the sake of interacting. It feels empty and pointless and I'd rather get to harvesting resources to work on my crafting collection.

And don't get me wrong, I LOVE decorating and collecting stuff and despite being terrible at terraforming I appreciate being able to create things the way I want to. But this freedom didn't have to come at the cost of the world feeling alive. I'm sure they could've implemented the new features in a way that doesn't detract from the world as a whole.

But instead it feels like crafting and terraforming were pushed to the forefront so relentlessly that everything else takes a backseat. If we're being honest, there wasn't a whole lot to do in NL. In terms of customization, I put down some paths and called it a day. But something else about the game drew me in enough to play every day for two years. Playing nh, if I don't have a specific goal in mind, nothing keeps me there.

NL felt like a place. NH feels like a building kit. I exist in a place whether I do something or not, and the world exists whether I interact with it or not. The building kit I put away after building and don't feel anything about it until I'm in the mood to take it out again.

 

[Monokuma73]

It’s possible that Nintendo isn’t being quote-on-quote “transparent” because they know what’s returning and that fans will maybe eventually get what they want. An example of a game that really benefitted from updates was Splatoon 2. That game was pretty much as barren as the original, and the updates really turned it into a fully fleshed out game. Perhaps Nintendo just doesn’t want it to be a one-and-done deal for fans, and wants them play it for more than one year.

But then again, the way they operate is very much a mystery, so this is just my personal, optimistic opinion.

I never played Splatoon 2, so I have no opinion. However, if something else is a bad example, shall we accept this everywhere?

The original is nowhere near perfect. (...)

I agree, never said it's perfect. As a defence I may say it was a first released AC game, with no previous experience of developer with this franchise. But now, we are almost 20 years since first AC was released, and we know what developers achieved before.
I never expect any come back to those limitations first AC had, but just SOME of features are still interesting today (for me, personally), like playing other games inside AC, access to lighthouse, wishing well etc.
But we can't forget, not only experience has been gained by developers, but console power is not comparable to original GC.

Don't know if you feel the same, but for me, it's NH's lack of the "life" part of life sim. (...)

Sometimes I have similar feelings. I could play almost all day, and none of villagers will have an interaction with me at all, sometimes if I'm lucky - once. In NL animals seems more pro-active in my opinion. I do believe I achieved maximum friendship level in NH, as I have all villagers photos already.

 

[tajikey]

I know a magic word called "transparency" - Nintendo could admit, just clearly say about missing features and give a promise of implementation in the nearest future. I'm not buying any excuses.
If product in unfinished - it's unfinished, period.
I do understand, COVID hit entire world, but still transparency is not an extra luxury.


I put hundreds of hours, so far I got about 850+ hours spent with ACNH, so I'm not a newbie, and I'm so far from blind worship, just because it's Animal Crossing. I like this game, but still have own expectations, I know history of release and updates and expressing my opinion.

Nintendo doesn't owe it to the end user to be transparent about the construct of their product at release, nor is it their responsibility to provide those same users with a release timing window for various changes and/or updates. Look how much traffic is driven to their social media accounts when an update video gets released...that's marketing, and the sole purpose is to get MORE people buying, which serves the ultimate purpose of appeasing their shareholders and making the company as much money as possible.

 

[Ganucci]

Don't know if you feel the same, but for me, it's NH's lack of the "life" part of life sim. I've only played NL before, but I felt attached to every villager. I felt like I was part of a world. In NH on the other hand, I barely interact with anyone anymore for the sake of interacting. It feels empty and pointless and I'd rather get to harvesting resources to work on my crafting collection.

And don't get me wrong, I LOVE decorating and collecting stuff and despite being terrible at terraforming I appreciate being able to create things the way I want to. But this freedom didn't have to come at the cost of the world feeling alive. I'm sure they could've implemented the new features in a way that doesn't detract from the world as a whole.

But instead it feels like crafting and terraforming were pushed to the forefront so relentlessly that everything else takes a backseat. If we're being honest, there wasn't a whole lot to do in NL. In terms of customization, I put down some paths and called it a day. But something else about the game drew me in enough to play every day for two years. Playing nh, if I don't have a specific goal in mind, nothing keeps me there.

NL felt like a place. NH feels like a building kit. I exist in a place whether I do something or not, and the world exists whether I interact with it or not. The building kit I put away after building and don't feel anything about it until I'm in the mood to take it out again.

For the most part I agree with you, so thank you for helping me put into words what I was feeling! When it comes to the villagers I personally think that NH has the superior interactions. These great interactions are just unfortunately buried under having to talk to them two or three times before finding the good stuff. I do think NH feels like a place too, but definitely more of a building kit like you said. NL gave that comfy, cozy feeling while NH gives me more of a creative feeling.

I guess maybe NH is more of my type of game though, because I often found myself getting bored of NL after a month and then dropping it for a while. NH I haven't put down since release.

But again, thanks for helping me vocalize this!

 

[Matt0106]

I never played Splatoon 2, so I have no opinion. However, if something else is a bad example, shall we accept this everywhere?

I think what I'm trying to say is Nintendo's own personal record with free updates has never been executed poorly, at least from the games I've played from them. Also as @tajikey said, while we are the customers here, it is ultimately Nintendo who gets the final word on what is said, and right now, what they want is more people to actually buy the game and with the updates, it allows them to constantly market the game over an extended period of time.

 

[McRibbie]

When it comes to the villagers I personally think that NH has the superior interactions. These great interactions are just unfortunately buried under having to talk to them two or three times before finding the good stuff.

Yeah, I'd also say that too. Although it's still got the crime of REPEATING WAY TOO OFTEN there's a ton of really nice stuff there, including callbacks to stuff like Fauna Magazine and Ms Nintendique from the older games that wasn't in NL... after all the stuff about what I've decorated with and the weird one-line stuff I think's the worst dialog in the game. The dialog's honestly not that bad, imo? It's got room to improve in many spaces, like villagers recognising that you haven't done something for them... or having you do stuff more, come to think of it.

But I also definitely think there's a load of stuff they haven't brought back yet that'd make it feel more like a place and less like a building kit (although I personally sorta agree AND think it gets overblown, bc it's not HHD ffs) like the Post Office and the Police Station, and the pigeon who's inevitably coming back at some point, hopefully soon... because when I talk about the first game's atmosphere and what's lacking in terms of stuff like that, that's definitely what springs to mind.

(sidenote: despite, y'know, the fact that the steady dripfeeding of content is kinda annoying, the one thing i really like about nh is the return of the idea that there's other places beside your town and the return of travelling merchants? in lgttc practically everything's in one place, aside from a handful of travelling visitors, and nl's even worse bc of main street (although redd and phineas are travellers now). reece and cyrus have a shop somewhere else (that i honestly hope we can visit someday, bc they'd be perfect running an auction-house type thing), the nmt islands are implied to be the islands you see in the distance and it's also implied that rover's just travelling around them for the hell of it atm... i honestly wish they could do more with this concept in 2021, bc the stuff in that first update's just *chef's kiss* in terms of little character moments)

Nice comparison with Splatoon, tho! I'm hoping it's got a longer update lifecycle than Splatoon 2, tho. Admittedly, that lasted longer than the original (got that about a month after it stopped getting updated ) and when the final Splatfest happened, I was kinda upset bc I hadn't kept up with them... so I'm glad they've done a couple more since then!

But at the same time, given they didn't give the rest of the Octoleet gear with Salmon Run, I'm worried they're going to do something like that with NH... but NH's WAY more popular than Splatoon 2, so I've less reason to be worried there.

 

[Matt0106]

Nice comparison with Splatoon, tho! I'm hoping it's got a longer update lifecycle than Splatoon 2, tho. Admittedly, that lasted longer than the original (got that about a month after it stopped getting updated ) and when the final Splatfest happened, I was kinda upset bc I hadn't kept up with them... so I'm glad they've done a couple more since then!

But at the same time, given they didn't give the rest of the Octoleet gear with Salmon Run, I'm worried they're going to do something like that with NH... but NH's WAY more popular than Splatoon 2, so I've less reason to be worried there.

Oh I 100% expect Nintendo to make the game last years longer than Splatoon 2. Splatoon 2 was very successful, but New Horizons is literally fighting for the top spot of highest-selling Switch game. If I were Nintendo, I would milk that cow to the bank, with countless updates New Horizons has amazing amounts of potential to build upon, so I have faith that Nintendo will bring some amazing things to the table.