[deleted]

[VanitasFan26]

I don’t know how long you play per day and how much you talk to villagers but I’m pretty sure that’s not the only stuff they mention at least not to me. Also, isn’t that how pretty much real world conversations go? You do small talk and if you want to talk more you delve deeper, which is exactly how it works in this game. You keep talking to them and they start talking about more interesting stuff.

Beyond that, it’s understandable that there’s going to be repetitions and limitations to how much theyre going to say. Even the old games aren’t any better and I still play those everyday so I know they can get just as repetitive.

The problem with this game is that the personalities are way too similar. Like if you had like 4 Lazy villagers for example they will talk the same way. There is literally nothing different to what they say. I know this has been mentioned so many times and I know this is a very heated topic but the villagers are just not alive in this game. Even if you do speak to them on regular days its only by the next day all those same conversations are repeated, hence the reason why you hear them saying the same stuff over again. It happens with other villagers who don't have the same personality but like I said before they will still comment on your outfit, asking you the same questions of being in a villager's home and of course the most annoying part reminding you of who visited your island. Thats is why I got tired of small talk and I don't even bother talking to villagers. I know some people may disagree with this but it should not be this difficult to get different conversations when you try talking with them the next day.

 

[KayDee]

The problem with this game is that the personalities are way too similar. Like if you had like 4 Lazy villagers for example they will talk the same way. There is literally nothing different to what they say. I know this has been mentioned so many times and I know this is a very heated topic but the villagers are just not alive in this game. Even if you do speak to them on regular days its only by the next day all those same conversations are repeated, hence the reason why you hear them saying the same stuff over again. It happens with other villagers who don't have the same personality but like I said before they will still comment on your outfit, asking you the same questions of being in a villager's home and of course the most annoying part reminding you of who visited your island. Thats is why I got tired of small talk and I don't even bother talking to villagers. I know some people may disagree with this but it should not be this difficult to get different conversations when you try talking with them the next day.

Again, you make it seem like that’s the only stuff they talk about when it’s clearly not. Even going back to Wild World you’ll get the same dialogue everyday about how certain villagers are in the same organic tea club, asking you to compete with bug catching or how surprised they are that you designed the shirt they’re wearing. Your complaints about repetitive dialogue/similar personalities is not just a New Horizons problem, it’s an Animal Crossing problem.

 

[RollingAntony]

But do you really want to hear your villagers remind you what you're doing, commenting on your outfit, and asking you if you have been in (insert villagers name here) home before for like the 100th time?

First of all, I don't think many games have enough dialogue to deliver fresh lines each day of the year for 8 different personalities. It's also worse when a game is repetitive like Animal Crossing,

Second, I highly disagree with statements like "islanders are robots/not alive/lobotomized". Just because of the simple reason that I don't find them to be that, I feel they are full of life because even if they don't deliver Shakespearean dialogue every hour, I can see them playing, singing, eating, etc. Of course I know that many people like to dismiss all those activities as "social media bait" as if that's a big brain take, but I don't. But that's highly subjective, and until we are able to compare the dialogue dump of all games side by side (which is almost impossible) we're only left with some facts: parts of NH dialogue is unfortunately behind some contextual dialogue, NH dialogue doesn't feature tutorial dialogue like its predecessors, NH "ping" seems to be lower than other entries, etc.

And finally, I just take 2 minutes of my time to speed through the contextual dialogue, which is the lines you mention. Just today, while decorating the island, I talked with four islanders. Zucker told me the lazy contextual (meeting me on my dreams), clothes contextual (he told me he looked great on his denim jacket) and then I got a line about running like an airplane and then taking a nap which I think I have seen like 2 or 3 times on 500 hours (I won't say it's new new but I didn't remember it). Bianca gave me peppy contextual and then she told me C.J. was my visitor, which I didn't know so it was helpful. I then participated on a conversation between Julia and Renée where the latter told us about how she used to zap everyone with static electricity. I'm gonna play later, but for example, just today, I only got 2 "boring" and contextual dialogue, so I'm not bothered.

tl;dr: it takes me so little time to skip contextual dialogue that I don't have a problem. I keep discovering new lines every week or so and thanks to the events, some days/weeks have tons of new dialogue (which obviously only last this year, but I'll probably forget a lot of them for next year haha)

 

[Matt0106]

First of all, I don't think many games have enough dialogue to deliver fresh lines each day of the year for 8 different personalities. It's also worse when a game is repetitive like Animal Crossing,

Second, I highly disagree with statements like "islanders are robots/not alive/lobotomized". Just because of the simple reason that I don't find them to be that, I feel they are full of life because even if they don't deliver Shakespearean dialogue every hour, I can see them playing, singing, eating, etc. Of course I know that many people like to dismiss all those activities as "social media bait" as if that's a big brain take, but I don't. But that's highly subjective, and until we are able to compare the dialogue dump of all games side by side (which is almost impossible) we're only left with some facts: parts of NH dialogue is unfortunately behind some contextual dialogue, NH dialogue doesn't feature tutorial dialogue like its predecessors, NH "ping" seems to be lower than other entries, etc.

And finally, I just take 2 minutes of my time to speed through the contextual dialogue, which is the lines you mention. Just today, while decorating the island, I talked with four islanders. Zucker told me the lazy contextual (meeting me on my dreams), clothes contextual (he told me he looked great on his denim jacket) and then I got a line about running like an airplane and then taking a nap which I think I have seen like 2 or 3 times on 500 hours (I won't say it's new new but I didn't remember it). Bianca gave me peppy contextual and then she told me C.J. was my visitor, which I didn't know so it was helpful. I then participated on a conversation between Julia and Renée where the latter told us about how she used to zap everyone with static electricity. I'm gonna play later, but for example, just today, I only got 2 "boring" and contextual dialogue, so I'm not bothered.

tl;dr: it takes me so little time to skip contextual dialogue that I don't have a problem. I keep discovering new lines every week or so and thanks to the events, some days/weeks have tons of new dialogue (which obviously only last this year, but I'll probably forget a lot of them for next year haha)

This this this this this.

I have always thought about this. I can't imagine how long it would take for them to come up with multiple subpersonalities for 400+ villagers, all with dialogue that is fresh every day. It would take years for them to do that (or maybe not, I'm not a game developer), and I don't think it's realistic of people to think that we were going to get this pinnacle of amazingness that is villager dialogue.

I know many players love to compare the villagers to the ones in past games, but with all due respect to those games, my villagers couldn't sit. They couldn't eat. They barely did anything unless you spoke to them. And to some that might be enough, but I can't imagine going to to games where the villagers act like robots (maybe not speak like them, but certainly walk like them). Part of their personality shines more through their actual actions, rather than their words. And ya know what they say, "Actions speak louder than words" (This is just a joke, I can't believe I even that oof).

To this day, I'm still getting some little pieces of fresh dialogue. I don't at all mind the small talk; it's realistic. I am not going to start a conversation with my friend like "sometimes I wonder about blah blah blah". It wouldn't make sense in real life, so why put it in a game? I think that it's coming down to the fact that as gamers maybe we want stuff done quickly and things to be right to the point. But Animal Crossing was never about that. It's always been about slowly forming friendships, and taking things day-by-day.

Anyway I think I lost what I was talking about halfway through that but whatever, just my opinion

 

[visibleghost]

idk i feel like it would just drag out the event, it's annoying as is that all they talk about the day of the event is the event, it's nice that it's over. i guess if it was done in moderation, and by that i mean maybe two villagers mentioning it once, it would feel realistic and cute.

i do agree that villagers are pretty empty, but i would hope for more dialogue options and interaction like we had in older games (going to each others' house, meeting up at a certain time, helping with tasks more than once a week or whatever, fishing up their house key, and more) rather than them talking even more about events.

 

[peachycrossing9]

I personally... don't care? I would rather they didn't continue going on about the event the next day, usually by then I have had enough of hearing about it.

 

[Livia]

The only thing that bothered me is today a villager said to my second character “I saw Livia yesterday but I don’t know what they were up to” And I had spent the entire day catching feathers for the event so it was a little annoying that they mentioned seeing me but didn’t know what I was doing. it would’ve been nice if the villagers mentioned how I was catching feathers instead.

 

[VanitasFan26]

People seem to misunderstand what I'm saying. What I'm trying to say in the OP is that villagers don't always say different things each day. I mean come on. You saw how lively they were in the event and they were having a good time. Then the next day they go back to normal and act like nothing ever happened. Now look I get that if they rag on about the Festivale event it would been annoying but then I ask how come nobody gets annoyed when villagers only talk about the same topics you heard over and over.

I get that in past AC games villagers don't have much to say but if you remember from the original and wild world villagers always had something unique to say no matter what day it was. You had to build up friendship to have that dialogue and its understandable. In this game it doesn't do any of that. Your villager will constantly bug you about changing your nickname and then spamming you with useless items (clothing/furniture) you don't need in your mail.

Also when I say there is an issue with personalities I am mentioning how every villager talks the same way based on personality. For example why would you get Raymond when you can have Colton. Both are smug villagers and they will all speak and act the same. Thats the part that bothers me. I always know what they are going to say based on their personality.

In Conclusion I stand by what I said that villagers should at least say different things each day and not repeat the same lines over and over again. This is the reason why some people have trouble connecting with villagers and why they don't feel the need to talk to them. Really think about this would you rather have villagers repeat the same topics every day or have them talk about different stuff everyday that keeps it refreshing? Older AC games did this right but the newer ones since City Folk now that I look back at it doesn't do any of that and I will agree with that one comment that it seems to have gotten worse since then.

 

[Matt0106]

People seem to misunderstand what I'm saying. What I'm trying to say in the OP is that villagers don't always say different things each day. I mean come on. You saw how lively they were in the event and they were having a good time. Then the next day they go back to normal and act like nothing ever happened. Now look I get that if they rag on about the Festivale event it would been annoying but then I ask how come nobody gets annoyed when villagers only talk about the same topics you heard over and over.

I get that in past AC games villagers don't have much to say but if you remember from the original and wild world villagers always had something unique to say no matter what day it was. You had to build up friendship to have that dialogue and its understandable. In this game it doesn't do any of that. Your villager will constantly bug you about changing your nickname and then spamming you with useless items (clothing/furniture) you don't need in your mail.

Also when I say there is an issue with personalities I am mentioning how every villager talks the same way based on personality. For example why would you get Raymond when you can have Colton. Both are smug villagers and they will all speak and act the same. Thats the part that bothers me. I always know what they are going to say based on their personality.

In Conclusion I stand by what I said that villagers should at least say different things each day and not repeat the same lines over and over again. This is the reason why some people have trouble connecting with villagers and why they don't feel the need to talk to them. Really think about this would you rather have villagers repeat the same topics every day or have them talk about different stuff everyday that keeps it refreshing? Older AC games did this right but the newer ones since City Folk now that I look back at it doesn't do any of that and I will agree with that one comment that it seems to have gotten worse since then.

I understand what you're saying, but it's also unrealistic to expect new dialogue everyday. It certainly cannot be that simple of a task. Not to mention thinking about what each sub-personality is actually going to say? I don't think it's as easy as it seems.

Also so what if my villagers have the same sub-personality? If I like it, I don't see how that's an issue They express themselves through their actual appearance and through their home, which is obviously why certain people have certain favourites. We cannot just expect for there to be so many sub-personalities when there's 400+ villagers in the game, at least in my opinion.

As for them not mentioning the event the next day, I personally find to be a very very minor issue, if an issue at all. I mean, it's definitely not going to make or break the game for me whether or not Marina talks about how many feathers I caught the day before I'd rather move and talk to them about THEM rather than an event that I had my time with and finished.

 

[-Lumi-]

It's not a huge deal for me! I think it's cute when they talk about how excited they are leading up to the event but I'm not too bothered about them not mentioning it after. It would be a nice extra touch if they did but when it comes to dialogue this isn't on the top of my list of something to be added.

 

[VanitasFan26]

I understand what you're saying, but it's also unrealistic to expect new dialogue everyday. It certainly cannot be that simple of a task. Not to mention thinking about what each sub-personality is actually going to say? I don't think it's as easy as it seems.

Also so what if my villagers have the same sub-personality? If I like it, I don't see how that's an issue They express themselves through their actual appearance and through their home, which is obviously why certain people have certain favourites. We cannot just expect for there to be so many sub-personalities when there's 400+ villagers in the game, at least in my opinion.

As for them not mentioning the event the next day, I personally find to be a very very minor issue, if an issue at all. I mean, it's definitely not going to make or break the game for me whether or not Marina talks about how many feathers I caught the day before I'd rather move and talk to them about THEM rather than an event that I had my time with and finished.

Oh really? Well then next time you have 7 normal villagers like I did you would be tired of them talking the same way too. Thats where I got tired of having too many of the same personalities. I don't agree that villagers just talk the same way. Again if you played the original villagers had more story to them and they were always different from each other no matter that personality it was.

 

[Matt0106]

Oh really? Well then next time you have 7 normal villagers like I did you would be tired of them talking the same way too. Thats where I got tired of having too many of the same personalities. I don't agree that villagers just talk the same way. Again if you played the original villagers had more story to them and they were always different from each other no matter that personality it was.

I think the whole point is that maybe Nintendo wants you to have more than just Normal villagers. After all, there's seven other personality types they made for us. It's about diversity, in my eyes. Maybe the reason I don't have this issue is because I try to diversify my island with different personalities, and so far it works. I have three lazy villagers currently, and even though they repeat, if you get past the small talk they do have some interesting stuff to say. I get Normal villagers are cute and all, but even if they had three sub-personalities instead of two, that would still be a lot. If they tried making ten sub-personalities to try and please everyone, the development probably would have gone very differently.

Also I tried to play the original but got pretty bored since I found there wasn't much to do. Not to mention being forced to work part-time and doing crappy tasks I had no interest in doing. New Horizons gets me; the original does not. But that's the beauty of different tastes; I might like something that you may not like, and vice versa.

 

[VanitasFan26]

I think the whole point is that maybe Nintendo wants you to have more than just Normal villagers. After all, there's seven other personality types they made for us. It's about diversity, in my eyes. Maybe the reason I don't have this issue is because I try to diversify my island with different personalities, and so far it works. I have three lazy villagers currently, and even though they repeat, if you get past the small talk they do have some interesting stuff to say. I get Normal villagers are cute and all, but even if they had three sub-personalities instead of two, that would still be a lot. If they tried making ten sub-personalities to try and please everyone, the development probably would have gone very differently.

Also I tried to play the original but got pretty bored since I found there wasn't much to do. Not to mention being forced to work part-time and doing crappy tasks I had no interest in doing. New Horizons gets me; the original does not. But that's the beauty of different tastes; I might like something that you may not like, and vice versa.

When you put that way it does make sense but here is the thing Animal Crossing used to be about building a community and you would always feel appreciated when villagers who used to be mean to you before warm up to you becuase you gained their respect by proving to them how good you were.

New Horizons doesn't do any of that. Its more about designing what your island is rather than just building a community. Thats the problem there. It went from building a community to just only caring about making your island. When you're done making your island the game feels shallow and boring. Thats the reason why many people including my friends stopped playing because there was nothing else to do in the game. Even talking to your villagers like I mentioned several times is not that good.

You may not understand why Animal Crossing got famous in the first place but you cannot deny it was the original that made it to what it was today and if you ask any other veteran AC fan about it they would say the same thing. Like I said that one comment that mentioned how the series went downhill with City Folk when the villager dialogue got worse. If you had more time with the original you would understand why the dialgoue in that game is alot better, but again thats your opinion.

 

[Xara]

Generally it would be nice if they mentioned events after the day, but this time teir constant running after me legitimately stressed me out so much I don't even want to talk to them for the next few days at least.

THIS. i love my villagers but oh my god?? of course, my wonderful decision-making skills had me starting my flower cleanup when i was done with the event and shockingly!! it’s incredibly hard to dig up flowers when there’s a villager standing right in front of you, throwing confetti!! i just- i have too short a temper for stuff like that.

xjsnsk but fr, them mentioning events the next day would be nice. i mean, they talk about events a lot leading up to them and they have fun but then the next day, it’s like it never happened?? like you can’t just chase me around with confetti all day and then never mention it again-

 

[DrewAC]

I guess this is a case by case thing based on the event itself because all of my villagers wished me a belated birthday a day after mine. It would be nice if they talked a bit about events after the day of their occurrence, but they do spend a lot of their dialogue anticipating it before it comes, so I don’t mind much.

 

[AkaneDeath]

They had too much of that GOOD soda, I guess. lol

 

[-Blue-]

I don't believe any of the other games had the villagers mention previous events. Once it was done, they always went back to their basic dialogue. It would be more unique if they added that in on this game or the next one.

 

[Skandranon]

They may not mention it, but they will still dance on the stages if you have them set up and thats quite cute

 

[John Wick]

Villagers don't remember what they said five minutes ago, as they continually talk about my waistcoat.

 

[Michelangelo]

I'm a veteran AC player. I've played all games, and NH is definitely one of my favorites.

Animal Crossing used to be about building a community and you would always feel appreciated when villagers who used to be mean to you before warm up to you becuase you gained their respect by proving to them how good you were. New Horizons doesn't do any of that. Its more about designing what your island is rather than just building a community. Thats the problem there.

This isn't a problem. The game advertised that this is a deserted island getaway package story. It literally is about designing, decorating, and adding facilities and new neighbors to your island to make it less deserted. Just like Mario or Zelda, Every AC game has a different theme or story. But they are all AC games.

When you're done making your island the game feels shallow and boring.

But don't all the AC games get boring after a while? Eventually, you unlock most of the items, you've heard your neighbors say the same things over and over, and you discovered every secret or event there is to offer.

You may not understand why Animal Crossing got famous in the first place but you cannot deny it was the original that made it to what it was today and if you ask any other veteran AC fan about it they would say the same thing.

It's because of the original why many things are so much better in the new game. Yes, while QoL features are inconsistent, they are present in NH, coming from a series where there used to be almost none.

If you had more time with the original you would understand why the dialgoue in that game is alot better, but again thats your opinion.

That's your opinion as well. However, I remember the GCN dialogue well, and honestly sometimes the animals can be hostile without even being provoked. I just said hi and why is this villager insisting I'm up to no good and getting all disgruntled? Rude dialogue doesn't equal interesting dialogue. Now, if you hit villagers with your net or insult them, then yeah, they should scold you for that. I think NH handles dialogue more realistically. Most people are usually polite or even-keeled when talking to someone. Usually it is small talk. I could never tell if my friendship advanced in the GCN game, and there were no villager photos or birthdays, even. At least WW, NL, and NH shown friendship progression, and those games had villager photos.