I did a bit of both. I have a small neighborhood of 4 villagers (that I finally got setup properly a few days ago because direct hype) that's fenced and has small yards for each. I also have a smaller 3-villager "city" neighborhood on the other side of the island that overlooks an area that has the museum/villager house "cafe"/ concert stage/park. The last 2 are on their own somewhat far from the others, but are thematic. Rod has a little pirate hideaway in a top corner, and Fauna has a farm at the top middle.
I think they're spread out enough that I see villagers wandering around at pretty much all parts of my island, and it gives me actual reasons to go to the different areas. I love my layout.
Mine are in a dedicated neighborhood. It is true that there's the downside of them not wandering very much. Mine will occasionally wander farther away, but it's kinda rare. They'll mostly stick around the neighborhood plus my shopping district (since it's right by the neighborhood).
I do like that it's easier to find them when I want to talk to them or gift them something. But also, uh, these animals don't help me do anything. So if I gotta do everything, then I want more space on my island to decorate as I wish. Them being clumped together makes my island feel a lot larger for decorative purposes.
I used to like to have them in a area, my is quiet big so they are not one beside the other but spread in a specific area to give a sense of a little town, you know ? But i also dont like decorating my island with too many not interactive objects cause its a bit of a turn down, so i might consider spreading them out more and giving their house area more personality to enhance my island wothout dead objects
I’ve tried both and there are pros and cons for each. A neighborhood is more organized and it’s easy to check who’s home and who isn’t so when you’re wanting to check for DIYs, going on a gift giving spree or achieving the island togetherness records it’s easier. Also, this gives more flexibility as anyone can move out and move in and all you pretty much have to do is change the few items you have on their yard. However I did notice that they tend to pretty much stay in that area when they have a neighborhood. You have more space for other facilities and areas on your island but then what’s the point of having all those when they’re mostly gonna just be there abandoned? For the scattered houses, they really do roam around. Most of them get a sizable area of their own but the downside is when they leave you can’t just replace them with anyone (ex someone who occupies an Asian themed area must be replaced by another villager who will suit the theme or you’d have to redo the whole surroundings). It’s also difficult to check who’s home or not if you wanna give gifts or get DIYS. Sometimes you have to spend such a long time finding them.
So which is better? To me I think you can do a combination of both? Or maybe transition from one to another? I personally think it makes most sense to have a neighborhood at the beginning of the game since that’s the time you’d be farming for DIYS and trying to get their photos (giving them gifts everyday). Also, this is pretty much the time villagers can come and go since you most likely won’t have your Dreamies yet. However once you start to get your Dreamies aka permanent residents who will never leave and once you’ve got most if not all the DIYs you need, then go ahead and scatter them and give them each their own area. Or better yet divide them and put some on a neighborhood and scatter others to get the best of both worlds.
Spread out with smaller neighborhoods all the way! Personally, I can't stand the look of just one neighborhood. It looks so unnatural and honestly a bit unsettling to me (IDK, I guess it gives me Stepford Wives vibes or something?). I don't like the look of it on anyone's island, and I could never do it on mine.
I prefer to do scattered mini-neighborhoods (of two houses each) with a few solo villagers (like Peggy who has a farm, Purrl who has a luxurious yard with basically a moat, Marty who lives near the festival grounds, and Lopez who lives in a cozy beach lot at the back of the island). It still keeps things organized, but it looks so much better IMO.
Also, someone posted the other day discussing how they never seem to see villagers anywhere outside their one neighborhood or plaza. I hadn't really thought of it before, but I never go too far without seeing a villager on my spread out island. Plus, I can put villagers in areas that make sense- for instance, Grizzly is our forest ranger, he lives in the forest, and he's frequently "patrolling" it when not in the more developed area.
At first I'd arranged it so there were two distinct neighborhoods - the more naturalist, low key 'middle class' neighborhood that was closer to the beach for the residents I'd headcanoned as natives (uchi, jock, cranky and nice villagers) and a posher more 'developed' one closer to shopping and other touristy destinations for the smug, snooty, lazy and peppy villagers.
I definitely prefer having my villagers spread out. I feel like it helps a lot to make my island feel livelier and less empty than if they were all clustered together in a neighborhood type setting, plus it helps make me actually walk around my entire island daily, rather than just going to like a quarter of it and then stopping. I haven't really had many problems hunting them down when I want to talk to them or gift them something, though it can definitely take a few minutes of searching since they do roam the island more, lol
I've had all my villagers grouped together in a neighborhood, two levels. However I'm in the process of clearing out my island and plan on spreading the villagers throughout. Like some said before, I think it'll give me a better opportunity to build better themes around them.
I typically spread them out; however, I will have some clusters and two villagers across the path from each other, or at least make sure that a villager isn't too far away from another, so that they all have a neighbour.
I'm still on board with the "neighborhood" seeing how I always wanted one since Wild World. Though I agree it's bothersome how neighbors are in one or two places all the time, it doesn't bother me THAT much. I do hope the update let's them spawn somewhere else when we load up instead of their houses though.
From what it seems like, I think I prefer if my villagers are all spread out. I’ve always wanted to do a neighborhood, but I don’t like the idea of them staying all in one place. I like seeing my villagers everywhere.
My second river mouth faces west, and I’ve ultimately kept the terraforming fairly similar to its original layout, so there’s one large section of island in the southwest and then the cliffs are largely in the northeastern corner. My town hall was basically dead-center, so I turned the southwestern section of island into a more residential area, with the stores and museum on the northern side of the river, and left the northeastern cliffs a lot more ‘natural’ looking. So it’s a neighborhood, but it’s big enough for them not to feel completely clustered (everyone has room for at least a small yard and I put big paths between everything,) and there’s usually one or two villagers on the other side of the river. Hits a good balance for me and lets me make the central part of the island very pretty and neat while keeping the more wild look on the upper cliffs. Plus, they were usually at the town plaza no matter what I did. Maybe if I ever decided to redo everything, I’d try a more spread-out island just to see if they wouldn’t just gravitate to the town plaza, but I’m pretty happy with it on the whole.
I spread them out in clusters of 2 or 3. It's convenient to have them together so you can check on them, but I also like the look of houses being scattered rather than a manufactured neighbourhood.
I kind of like having a mix! I like to have a few villagers near one another, and then depending on the villager or spot on my island, have a few off on their own I think there's definitely pros and cons to both, so I like to have a bit of each!
I have a "main street" on my island with the two shops and four villager houses. They have a great location but less yardage- just like real life.
The other villagers are located in smaller neighborhoods. I have three in a mini-neighborhood towards the northeast, one house on the northwest (campsite in between those two), and another mini-neighborhood in the central part of the island with my last two villagers. I'm my island's way-too-involved HOA, so where villagers live depends on the exteriors.
I know it took a while before I found a layout I was truly happy with, and I still make small changes from time to time.
I like both. I made a country side area and a neighborhood/shopping area; I want to redo this area because something just doesn’t look right. I do like having it look like a little city/neighborhood.
None of my villagers have enough room to have a yard, which I’d like to do seeing how nice some people made their yards, but I have to make a choice between that or having more space to decorate around them, and so far I’ve done the latter.
Throwing my two cents here; I started with a neighborhood. It was nice and neat, but i redesigned and moved everyone apart instead once the update was announced. Now each one can have their own unique space and it can be as big or small as I like. I think it’s MUCH better than when I had them all cluttered and constrained to equal sized “yards.” Plus before, it felt weird to have them all in a designated villager neighborhood and have my house be separate… almost like I was better than them? I know it sounds silly but it felt unfair!!! now they all have their own lil spaces and separate areas!
I think there's definitely pros and cons to both, so I like to have a bit of each!
