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Are you overwhelmed by 2.0/HHP DLC content? (discussion)

DJStarstryker

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I saw this article that says maybe this is too much content all at once, that maybe having this much at once is intimidating and overwhelming. The article seems kinda clickbaity in general, and the most important point they had to say is pretty much what I typed in the previous sentence. I was curious what the actual AC community and players think. Are you overwhelmed by getting this amount of content all at once? Everyone has their own feelings and opinions, so please don't feel judged either way. I am just curious! :)

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To start the discussion, for me personally I do not feel overwhelmed. I actually felt underwhelmed by the amount of content that was in NH at release compared to the previous main AC games, but especially NL. Even ignoring NL's Welcome Amiibo update, which came out years after release, it felt like NL just had so many more items and so much more to do in general.

I was convinced though that Nintendo would fix that via updates. They did have a good start with the update that added diving and the update that added Redd and art to the museum. But I feel like the updates felt too few and far between. Not only that, but most of the updates just focused on adding in the absent holidays and adding in limited seasonal items. By about fall of 2020, I felt really burnt out, but I kept playing. Then the burn out hit me hard in January of this year because I STILL felt bored. During the year 2021, so far our biggest updates IMO have been the update that added in the Sanrio villagers, and the update that added in the Mario items. That's... not good. I took a long break and started playing again back in late summer, but my playing has been very sporadic.

I think 2.0/HHP has a lot of content, yes, but I think it's very much needed. 2.0's content is what was needed to make the game feel more like what I felt like it should've been at launch. HHP just feels like nice icing on the cake. When the Direct was announced, I was feeling pessimistic about it. Happily, Nintendo more than blew my expectations away. If they hadn't, I am not sure if I would've made it to playing to November 2021 (even though that's soon) otherwise. You might think "but that's still over a year and a half of playing! You should be happy because most games don't last that long!" I've felt very bored with the game since fall of last year - only about ~6 months interesting IMO. I noticed a lot of other people started dropping the game in that timeframe too, and I don't think it's JUST because of school/work picking more back up. But also, the AC series is different from other video games that you can finish in x number of hours - it feels like a game that's meant to be played for a little bit here and there for years. The game, at launch, did not (and still does not, as of today) have enough content to support years' worth of play even playing just a little at a time. From what we can see right now, 2.0/HHP should fix all of that.

This is my paper on why 2.0 isn't overwhelming. If you got this far, thanks. I'll read your novel too. ;)
 
Nah if anything I'm counting the days until Nov 5th! I LOVED the concept of Happy Home Designer but since that was all there was to do in game, I got bored rather quickly. The fact that we get walls, pillars, ceiling stuff, and counters for our own homes too just adds to the level of customization. (Though I would LOVE if we could also upgrade our room sizes as a surprise since we saw the chungus room in the direct). There's a lot of free space that just feels.... empty or not exciting on my island so I cant wait to buy and craft all the new stuff!!!!
Also getting to decorate our islander's homes as well is like a dream!~ (Now if only I could do something about that stupid baby bib Apollo keeps wearing)

Also,
GyroidsGyroidsGyroidsGyroidsGyroidsGyroidsGyroidsGyroidsGyroids AAAAAAAAAAAA
 
kind of? mostly in the sense that the sudden surplus of (generally much nicer) furniture makes me feel as though i need to redo every room in my house. otherwise, no, not really. it'll keep me busy for a while, but most of it isn't exactly taxing? you'll have to wait to install the campground stores, and their stock will only rotate once a day. the new islands aren't really much different from the regular ones -- it's the same mechanic with a different coat of paint. the cooking will rely on having to wait for your crops to regrow, and the only overwhelming thing about those is working out where i'm going to put them.

mostly, the new content just adds more tasks onto your daily routine and gives the player more options for decorating, which people do plenty of anyway, so i don't think it's overwhelming. more a case of, "what do i do first?"
 
I’m with you on that one! Is it a lot to process once it drops? Maybe. But I think it’s more of the fact that we were not used to so much content at once; I felt a similar sense of being overwhelmed when Welcome Amiibo in NL, due to all the furniture.

If anything, it’s just all excitement from all the new possibilities!
 
A little bit, but in a good way! Not in a "I'm so overwhelmed I'm paralyzed" way, but a "there's gonna be a bunch of new stuff and it'll be super exciting to take things at my own pace" sort of way. It's the GOOD kind of overwhelmed, like going to a fun fair or Disneyland or something and thinking, "OOH! Should I go on the rides first? Or get some food? Or maybe get my face painted?" Then you take a deep breath and do them one at a time.

TBH, I'm not sure why it would be a bad thing. Even if you don't want to enjoy everything right away, you don't have to. I skimmed the article and it seems mostly an overview of what we're getting and like it's asking "why didn't we get this sooner" (BC we obviously need to complain about something with any update announcement, lol) so I don't even think they were really asking the question as much as hoping to get people to click 😛
 
I can't really feel overwhelmed considering that the multiplayer aspect is still going to be lacking due to the absence of the minigames from New Leaf's Club Tortimer tours, or even anything equivalent. While there's a ton of great singleplayer content coming that I'm looking forward to and am grateful for, there's still not going to be anything worthwhile to do together with friends and it feels like a large, distracting void. Considering no major updates and no more paid DLC are planned, this aspect is unlikely to ever be addressed. I can understand why a lot of people were overjoyed with the announcement of all of the great stuff coming, but this glaring omission has consistently kept me from being overly enthusiastic. If anything, I'm closer to underwhelmed, though that sounds a bit more negative than I'd like it to; again, I'm still looking forward to all the stuff that is coming.
 
No, not at all. I know there's going to be a lot to do, but that makes me happy. It's like part 2 of a game I'm already very fond of. I'm not one to rush things or try to do it all, so no feelings of being overwhelmed.

I'm not even making any grand preparations now because I think I'll have a better idea of what I want to do once I see what items I can work with.
 
I definitely don't find 2.0 overwhelming. The nice thing about animal crossing is you can go at your own pace, so you don't have to check everything out at once. It might take a little adjusting, but I'm sure I'll get used to it in the same way I got used to harvesting crafting materials and earning nook miles.
 
It's going to be chaotic. I'd usually say it's the best kind of chaotic overwhelming, because I will love to see all the things the update and the DLC will offer and it's going to be sweet to keep finding new things, new mechanics, new etc. I'm going to love experimenting many of the stuff first-hand (or second-hand if my mom plays first lol) and there's this impending excitement of how I'm going to use and enjoy all the new items and features.

I also think I'm not going to be overwhelmed because I'm guessing most of the features aren't going to be available Day 1. You'll need to do something for Blathers in order to unlock The Roost. You'll need to donate bells 7 times to unlock all the hippie caravans. You'll need to wait until Leif comes over to buy seeds and then some days to harvest the new crops. Furniture will slowly begin to appear on the Cranny and maybe on balloons/trees/etc. We still don't know how cooking recipes are going to work, but you'll probably also need to collect them bit by bit. Collecting the new K.K. songs and the gyroids is also something that will be done on a day-by-day gameplay. And this is also assuming you're on an "endgame" situation, with a fully upgraded museum, all songs and previous furniture collected, millions of bells ready to spend, etc.

Regarding HHP, the concept itself is probably going to be available Day 1 just by talking to Tom Nook, but most of the features, such as polishing/partitions/etc. are going to need to be unlocked slowly over time- same for any kind of storyline it has, etc. So, bringing these features to your island will take time too.

Of course there's content that probably doesn't need anything, such as group stretching and madly buying every kind of Nook Miles item (well, for the furniture you'll need at least a week of buying). But that will add to the daily routine- things I'm going to do when the update arrives. For example, I'm planning on my head where I'll plant the new crops but I'm not going to do anything until I get the seeds and can actually plant stuff.

But of course I'm going to be browsing all over the Internet to learn about everything because I can't help myself. Thankfully, watching content on a website and actually playing it are two very different things and can enjoy both.


On the other hand, the game's incredible amount of content was exhausted on days/weeks when it released thanks to everyone madly rushing and binging months/years worth of things to do just because they could (thanks to the pandemic) or because they "needed to" (like content creators and media reporting websites)- so I just know the same fate awaits the 2.0 update. Everyone and their mothers are already over preparing for the arrival of the update, scheduling 5+ hours streaming sessions where they'll inform people of everything, people will probably harass kindly ask dataminers to squeeze every little detail by November 6th, etc. History will repeat itself. People will Time Travel all over the place to get everything that first weekend and then spend months wondering and complaining about the "lack of content".

Content creators, news sites and the like will probably be overwhelmed with all the info they'll be forced to dish Day 1. But I'm not them, so I can only hope they get to calmly enjoy everything.
 
I am a little but in a good way. I’m so excited. I have anxiety when I see loads of info even when it is about something fun and exciting and I have trouble managing my time and focus on just one thing. i rather be overwhelmed than underwhelmed though, even though I wish they had released some of this if not all earlier. There are still things I am hoping for that wasn’t shown in the direct, but most of the things I wanted seem to be returning (just wish the sloppy bed wasn’t recycled and looked the same from NL). I have an idea what I want to focus on first and I’m sure I’ll figure out the pace i want to go at once the update is released and I took at look at some of the content 🙂.
 
Not overwhelmed just super excited we got so much content. I love that we got it all at once instead of the continued little bit at a time. Now when it updates I can take my time with it and enjoy it. Even though I am getting the DLC right away I will not be playing that right away. I am working a lot that weekend so will save that until I start vacation so I can fully enjoy it without rushing through it.
 
Nah, I'm not overwhelmed at all.... Im looking forward to the amount. I'd much rather get it this way than being drip fed it over 6 months or something.
 
At first, it was kinda overwhelming because of the continuous barrage of information when it was revealed. I had set low expectations but the Direct just kept on giving so it was a lot to take in.

I've calmed down now. But I admit that the excitement has not faded away. I feel like once I've loaded the game, I might get overhwelmed again, not because of the content, but because of the things I want to do immediately.
 
I feel like it's a little overwhelming, but once you unpack all of the information, it's not too bad. I'd much rather be overwhelmed and have to strategize my approach than be underwhelmed and disappointed like with every other update. I think in order to get a generally pleased/happy reaction from the masses, they HAD to go big. Otherwise, it would've just been a gripe-fest.
 
I admit that I did have to rewatch it a fair amount of times due to all the information overload we got, but now that it's sunken in more I'm definitely ready for the update! I kept my expectations for the direct low so I wouldn't be disappointed, but it turned out to be a huge surprise. So ready to utilize all the new furniture and items (especially those pillars and columns)!
 
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A little bit. There's so much I want to do day 1 and feel like I won't get around to everything at first. I also have a dentist appointment in the morning, which means about 45 minutes of not being able to play (I probably won't be playing before the appointment since it's early in the morning). I really want to decorate my island with all the new NM items, add the 2 new bridges, and play HHP for a few hours. I've also been diving/selling like crazy to accumulate at least 2 mil in the bank before the 5th, which has been quite overwhelming. I've got about 1.1 mil right now.

I'm also probably going to use Nook Plaza (or Nookipedia if it updates quickly) to see all the new furniture that's been added and picking out what I want. I feel like it's going to be A TON!
 
Was I overwhelmed by being able to catch both bugs and fish when it first came out? Or paying off my loans while also going on Island Tours and planting flowers? No. There’s always been various activities to choose between in AC, so I don’t see why this would suddenly be too much?

The only people I can see being overwhelmed are those who feel like they need to do it all at once or risk missing out / falling behind. That type of thinking isn’t really conducive to the AC experience in general though, in my opinion. Just take your time and enjoy your Island—you’ll have literal years to do it all before the next game comes out.
 
I'll be be pretty honest here: this is the content we should have received with the game when it was released. Period. (Not talking about the paid dlc, of course).

The base game was released as shallow and empty as possible on purpose, as they wanted to approach it the same way they did with splatoon 2 to keep people playing it (talk about dangling a carrot in front of the horse). Add the effects of the pandemic to that and what we had was an empty game and a promise that we would get the missing content "soon". After almost 2 years, were getting it. Which is a shame, imo, is that by being a success, Nintendo may think this Games as a Service approach was the reason behind the game's success (it wasn't), and that's not a pro-consumer model at all.

Why, would you ask? Well, physical copies of the game are now obsolete when it comes to preservation, and the best case scenario involves Nintendo releasing a full version of the game in physical media, containing all updates and dlc, meaning "double dipping" is a must for anyone who cares about having the complete game even after Nintendo shuts down their servers or simply cut access to ACNH content on the eshop (and before someone says it won't happen, oh boy, it happens... Just look at some Wii games that have been - legally - lost forever).

So, no, I'm not overwhelmed. In fact, I would say that I made a huge effort to squeeze as much fun as I could from base ACNH, which offers a very solid foundation for the game, sure, but was clearly released unfinished.
 
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