Anyone Else Concerned by these Features?

[bcmii]

UPDATE: If y'all watched today's Direct Mini...they said that later in April, there was going to be another update to add in an Earth Day Event. As they said that, a graphic of Leif popped up on the screen! Not sure if that means he's here to stay, or just making a lame one time appearance for the event...

But still, maybe I'm misinterpreting what they said, but in the 2/20 Direct, I took it as that the updates were just to add in the holidays...not to add in super basic features (like all the furniture sets) that they couldn't be bothered to include in the first place. And so far, that's what it seems that these updates have done...added in holidays (Easter + Earth Day), but nothing else.

 

[Yuki Nagato]

It feels like they removed a lot of features and veered towards a crafting system because they thought that we'd want more challenge in the game. And that isn't entirely untrue. More challenges in game would have been great, but in the form of unlocking more buildings and more things to explore, for example. Not in the form of having to craft a new axe every five minutes.

Then with the game being update-orientated rather than having everything in the shipped retail version of the game, they've taken away a lot of player freedom. You don't have the option to time travel to an event if you want to anymore, for instance. It's not the case of "play however you like", but more the case of "play however you like... when we want you to". I don't even time travel and I feel this.

I guess this is just the gaming industry in 2020.

 

[sneakmode]

I've stated in another thread something of similar sentiment.

When I bought the game, I knew what I wanted to create - a beautiful victorian gothic island with dark paths and spooky vibes - and given that ACNL had so many options and customizable building themes, it allowed the player to truly make an original and interesting town. If we could do that in ACNL so many years ago, I couldn't wait to see what ACNH had in store for us.

So far, this doesn't deliver. The majority of DIY and bought items can't be customized, nor do they go together in any particularly pleasing 'set'. Buildings aren't customizable either, so I'm physically barred from creating the island theme I had my heart set on. It's jarring and doesn't make me happy to have a black fountain and black roses, only to have a bright orange shop with pink flowers in the window permanently looming in the background utterly destroying the feel of what I'm trying to build.

Unless they update and give us proper content for those of us that aren't happy with 'generic campground chairs' and 'haybales', or saccharine pink sanrio-hued designs - we're left feeling disappointed and discouraged.

At the current state, I am fully incapable of creating the island that I had dreamt of because of the lack of options. For the time being, everything is just a dumping ground for whatever manner of mismatched furniture you can find - and an easter update with a bunch of egg furniture, or some bushes for Earth Day may not improve that very much.

It's a beautiful game, but until they put more work and effort into it?
It's discouraging and makes me feel disinterested from decorating my island at all.

It's not the case of "play however you like", but more the case of "play however you like... when we want you to".

Also, this is the most accurate statement I've read. This sums it up perfectly.

 

[bcmii]

I've stated in another thread something of similar sentiment.

When I bought the game, I knew what I wanted to create - a beautiful victorian gothic island with dark paths and spooky vibes - and given that ACNL had so many options and customizable building themes, it allowed the player to truly make an original and interesting town. If we could do that in ACNL so many years ago, I couldn't wait to see what ACNH had in store for us.

So far, this doesn't deliver. The majority of DIY and bought items can't be customized, nor do they go together in any particularly pleasing 'set'. Buildings aren't customizable either, so I'm physically barred from creating the island theme I had my heart set on. It's jarring and doesn't make me happy to have a black fountain and black roses, only to have a bright orange shop with pink flowers in the window permanently looming in the background utterly destroying the feel of what I'm trying to build.

Unless they update and give us proper content for those of us that aren't happy with 'generic campground chairs' and 'haybales', or saccharine pink sanrio-hued designs - we're left feeling disappointed and discouraged.

At the current state, I am fully incapable of creating the island that I had dreamt of because of the lack of options. For the time being, everything is just a dumping ground for whatever manner of mismatched furniture you can find - and an easter update with a bunch of egg furniture, or some bushes for Earth Day may not improve that very much.

It's a beautiful game, but until they put more work and effort into it?
It's discouraging and makes me feel disinterested from decorating my island at all.



Also, this is the most accurate statement I've read. This sums it up perfectly.

Exactly! All the furniture has been SOOO generic so far! Seems like there was 100x more variety in New Leaf (even this early into the game). And there is plenty of evidence that the vast majority of the furniture (and sets) from NL /previous games was cut. Makes it kinda hard to make the unique town I was wanting. Guess I'll just have to make the most of it and work with what I have.

 

[sneakmode]

Guess I'll just have to make the most of it and work with what I have.

This. It isn't excitement about my ideas or plans of what this could be anymore. But instead, just coming to a disappointed level of acceptance that 'this is what we got and there's nothing I can do about it'. Inevitably, just letting go of my inspiration and building 'yet another pastel brick town with ye olde yellow pansies'. This isn't what I want, but Nintendo didn't give us that choice. In fact, there's no guarantee that I'll ever be able to build the town I'd like to in the future, as there's no official word as to what's coming down the pipeline.

I could wait forever on a fish hook of optimism, hoping for furniture that will possibly never come - or just quietly accept what it is and log into a town everyday to an ugly island that makes me unhappy to look at or be part of.

For those that like that camping aesthetic, I'm happy for you. But for the rest of us who had a long-time dream of creating something unique and different with New Horizons? That were looking forward to the game and all of its vast customization and options to truly do something incredible? We got haybeds and road cones.

It isn't difficult to see why there's lingering disappointment. It's a depressing notion to have your creativity purposely stifled for the sake of 'future dlc' and time-locking content for profit.

 

[bcmii]

It isn't difficult to see why there's lingering disappointment. It's a depressing notion to have your creativity purposely stifled for the sake of 'future dlc' and time-locking content for profit.

...And even then, all we have been promised for the updates is for the holidays to be added in. I don't know where everyone's getting that they are going to add in the super basic features, like, I don't know, MORE THAN 5 BASIC FURNITURE SETS, that they couldn't be bothered to include the first time with these updates. They said that they were going to add holidays in the update, and so far that's what they've done (Easter + Earth Day) and nothing else. I mean we can hope, and I am really hoping for that to happen, but everyone needs to stop acting like they know one way or the other.

 

[sneakmode]

We don't have a definitive development road map telling us what is coming to the game and what isn't. So no one in the AC Community can claim or disclaim that they'll be adding content - or what that content even would be.

But I can say solidly as someone who works in this industry, and also as someone who worked with DeNA to publish Pocket Camp - decisions like these to omit or limit content are made purely with the consideration of profit margins first and foremost. How little can we deliver with the least amount of backlash from the core community, while still maintaining that we are still factually, Animal Crossing.

In Pocket Camp, mobile has limitations placed deliberately for the push of getting people who play it to spend actual money on the app. It was purposely designed that way to limit content in order to put pressure on the player to open their wallet. Want that fortune cookie? The colors chosen to display it, how it looks, the font choices - everything is carefully laid in place to psychologically simulate a sense of anxiety/pressure to 'purchase now or you'll miss it!'


In New Horizons, I don't want this to happen. A mobile game is freemium, coded with deeply-researched psychological tricks and lootbox dlcs.

We paid $60 USD right from the shelf for ACNH - I would expect it would be a finished, fully completed product on purchase. If Nintendo wants to block the TT's by locking holiday events, that's fair. But taking away basic furniture and simplistic creative functionality in the bare start just to drag out the longevity? Unlikely. Especially when people were still playing ACNL for many years and still do, post ACNH's release.

 

[Galbador]

Guys, please relax. There is no use to get all worked up just because you couldn't find that you were looking for. The game is new, merely 6 days out. Give it time to enfold itself and show us what it got. AC was never a game to rush, but the daily, calm relaxation as like a bit of escapism from real life. New updates are coming and who know what will come with them.

But don't get too huffy and puffy just because something is missing.
Relax, enjoy the environment and take a cup of nice warm tea.

Things will be good, you'll see

 

[John Wick]

At the current state, I am fully incapable of creating the island that I had dreamt of because of the lack of options.

That's why I canceled getting the game.

Everything I had planned was made impossible.

I needed perfect fruit to make dead trees.
I needed certain furniture sets like Gracie's gorgeous series.
I need house styles like the Modern for example, and I needed to be able to have at least, 8 x 8 rooms.
The left and right rooms are only 6 x 6.

I also needed bushes.
They are vital to beautification, and I had planned topiaries with lavish bush maze pathways, leading to fountains.

So many plans I had, and after waiting so long for this game, to find it is nothing but a giant crafting grind, dashed my hopes and dreams.

Tortimer island also being gone was a real blow.
That was my ever-summer escape where I could get away from snow during winter, and take a break from villagers.

Not to mention the tours and farming for sharks and beetles.

NL had this awesome content, and they took an extra year to 'perfect' the game, when what they did was strip it bare.

I am heartbroken.
I expected something beyond NL, and what we got doesn't even have what Wild World had.

At least that had a Nookingtons.

I feel we were duped.
They said in directs that crafting was optional and NH wouldn't be like PC, and that isn't exactly the truth.

Crafting is mandatory if you want to progress.

Your island,
Your way?

Your island.. ish..
Nintendo's way.

One last thing about Golden Tools.

Golden Tools have always been the pot of gold at the end of the Animal Crossing rainbow.

Now the pot is a chamber pot and it's filled with nuggets, but they aren't gold.

 

[sneakmode]

Golden Tools have always been pot of gold at the end of the Animal Crossing rainbow.

Now the pot is a chamber pot and it's filled with nuggets, but they aren't gold.

This is an interesting perspective as well. Reaching the pinnacle of labor and finally getting that golden shovel was such a rewarding experience - a player worked very hard and put in a lot of effort to get their golden tools. They were a status symbol of how much love and commitment you spent, diligently working toward that goal.

But what is the point of getting golden tools when they inevitably break no differently than if you crafted a flimsy one, aside from the number of times you can hit a tree or dig a hole? There's no reward for a job well done - and no motivation to attain them if they're just merely the same item with a few more whacks and a pretty coat of paint.

The crafting element is clearly in play here to guarantee player continuity. If all tools continuously break, then players will have to continuously grind material endlessly if they want to keep progressing. By removing the standard of golden tools, Nintendo ensures that players will keep putting hours into their title.

Though whether those hours mindlessly grinding ore and begging friends for extra softwood should be called good gameplay design, is subjective.

 

[cicely]

This. It isn't excitement about my ideas or plans of what this could be anymore. But instead, just coming to a disappointed level of acceptance that 'this is what we got and there's nothing I can do about it'. Inevitably, just letting go of my inspiration and building 'yet another pastel brick town with ye olde yellow pansies'. This isn't what I want, but Nintendo didn't give us that choice. In fact, there's no guarantee that I'll ever be able to build the town I'd like to in the future, as there's no official word as to what's coming down the pipeline.

I could wait forever on a fish hook of optimism, hoping for furniture that will possibly never come - or just quietly accept what it is and log into a town everyday to an ugly island that makes me unhappy to look at or be part of.

For those that like that camping aesthetic, I'm happy for you. But for the rest of us who had a long-time dream of creating something unique and different with New Horizons? That were looking forward to the game and all of its vast customization and options to truly do something incredible? We got haybeds and road cones.

It isn't difficult to see why there's lingering disappointment. It's a depressing notion to have your creativity purposely stifled for the sake of 'future dlc' and time-locking content for profit.

I hope this doesn't come off as rude because it's not my intention at all, but if playing the game makes you unhappy you should stop. If you're not having fun, it's a waste of time. I get trying to make the most of things since it's a $60 purchase and all, but if it makes you depressed and frustrated, put it to the side.
Not that you should stop criticizing the game, I understand how it stinks to be let down by something you waited so long for. No need to force yourself to like the game.

 

[Hesper]

Just got a line from Isabelle that really makes me think more is in the offing: I asked her about island evals, and she said something about having more storefronts for shopping--but I have both Able's and the Cranny, so unless more are coming, there's no reason to even have written that line, right?

 

[John Wick]

I hope this doesn't come off as rude because it's not my intention at all, but if playing the game makes you unhappy you should stop. If you're not having fun, it's a waste of time. I get trying to make the most of things since it's a $60 purchase and all, but if it makes you depressed and frustrated, put it to the side.
Not that you should stop criticizing the game, I understand how it stinks to be let down by something you waited so long for. No need to force yourself to like the game.

That is a little unfair.

We WANTED to like the game.
Part of me wants to reorder it, but in it's current state, it just isn't worth it.

You got what you wanted in the game if you have no complaints, and that's great for you, but other people were looking forward to this and had their plans shattered by missing content that was stripped and replaced with crafting. A POCKET CAMP mechanic that has now taken over a mainline AC game.

 

[cicely]

That is a little unfair.

You got what you wanted in the game if you have no complaints, and that's great for you, but other people were looking forward to this and had their plans shattered by missing content that was stripped and replaced with crafting. A POCKET CAMP mechanic that has now taken over a mainline AC game.

What? You are misinterpreting what I said. Did I ever say I had no complaints? I'm actually filled with them.
My point was the post made me feel concerned as they seem upset, and that it'd be better for one's mental health to not play something that makes them depressed. Of course I might be misinterpreting THEIR post, but that's what I read.

 

[Corrie]

I really like this game and am worried they'll try to milk us for paid DLC to get features from NL back. That would literally make me hate Nintendo for that.

My one complaint so far is breakable tools. I get the flimsy ones but why do the others break? It's really annoying.

 

[sneakmode]

I hope this doesn't come off as rude because it's not my intention at all, but if playing the game makes you unhappy you should stop. If you're not having fun, it's a waste of time. I get trying to make the most of things since it's a $60 purchase and all, but if it makes you depressed and frustrated, put it to the side.
Not that you should stop criticizing the game, I understand how it stinks to be let down by something you waited so long for. No need to force yourself to like the game.

No, that's absolutely not rude at all. I appreciate you for bringing that up.

For the moment, I'm popping in to check and speak to my villagers once a day to make sure they stay put, and water some flowers for crossbreeding black roses. If my friends need something or want something from my shop, I'll open the gate for them. But that's about all I'm doing at the moment. In the time being, I'm content with not trying to do any beautification or improvement on my island's design until further content (hopefully) comes down the line that I'm more interested in.

Thank you for the concern, friend!

 

[John Wick]

What? You are misinterpreting what I said. Did I ever say I had no complaints? I'm actually filled with them.
My point was the post made me feel concerned as they seem upset, and that it'd be better for one's mental health to not play something that makes them depressed. Of course I might be misinterpreting THEIR post, but that's what I read.

Sorry about that. I read a lot of posts that say "Don't get it/play it if you don't like it", which makes me feel worse because I waited for years for this game, the same as everyone else, and they took away so many features that it is unplayable, and I ended up not getting it.

I took your post the wrong way.
My apologies.

 

[Feraligator]

I am heartbroken.
I expected something beyond NL, and what we got doesn't even have what Wild World had.

This thought process really dampened my excitement for this game the past few days. NL definitely set the bar extremely high for some of us, me included. All of the omitted features is upsetting to say the least and if they are coming back in updates, great! However there is too much uncertainty with what is actually coming in updates. I would prefer to know now instead of being surprised in the future if I'm honest because I already knew it was in a past game. Also, objects that remove NPCs like the card stand in the airport and the cupboard in Nook's cranny (and others) is upsetting as well, NPCs give AC games a bit more life so replacing them with objects literally takes the life away from the game.

That being said NH is still enjoyable when I think about it compared to WW and CF, as it is still a big step up from those games. It's just comparing it to NL which is the problem but I honestly think it's entirely valid to compare a game to the previous one. And yes, things get removed, but we are still in our rights to talk about that if we are upset about removal because some of the features were actually really good additions to the series, like island minigames and swimming.

 

[Corrie]

This thought process really dampened my excitement for this game the past few days. NL definitely set the bar extremely high for some of us, me included. All of the omitted features is upsetting to say the least and if they are coming back in updates, great! However there is too much uncertainty with what is actually coming in updates. I would prefer to know now instead of being surprised in the future if I'm honest because I already knew it was in a past game. Also, objects that remove NPCs like the card stand in the airport and the cupboard in Nook's cranny (and others) is upsetting as well, NPCs give AC games a bit more life so replacing them with objects literally takes the life away from the game.

That being said NH is still enjoyable when I think about it compared to WW and CF, as it is still a big step up from those games. It's just comparing it to NL which is the problem but I honestly think it's entirely valid to compare a game to the previous one. And yes, things get removed, but we are still in our rights to talk about that if we are upset about removal because some of the features were actually really good additions to the series, like island minigames and swimming.

I'm legit rattled you can't go swimming... ON AN ISLAND.

 

[cicely]

Sorry about that. I read a lot of posts that say "Don't get it/play it if you don't like it", which makes me feel worse because I waited for years for this game, the same as everyone else, and they took away so many features that it is unplayable, and I ended up not getting it.

I took your post the wrong way.
My apologies.

No problem, I get why you're annoyed.