Do you ever get overwhelmed with NH?

[Snek]

When I got the game at release I time travelled to complete as much as I could. Time travelling really burnt me out faster. Surprisingly for me, by not time travelling, I feel not as overwhelmed as I would have if I was trying to be a completionist.

 

[realfolkblues]

I get really overwhelmed with terraforming, which is partly why I haven't come back to play in awhile. I had a lot done, but my house is still stuck on the beach because I don't know what to do with it. I feel like I see all these nice designs on other islands and mine just kind of looks "bleh" in comparison so I don't know what to do with any of it.

 

[Shawna]

honestly, yes I do.

* Crafting does feel a bit forced, and there isn’t bulk crafting. I have so much in my catalog from helping my friend Ashton with holding onto his items while he reset, but I can’t even buy 90% of it. I wish there was an alternative to crafting, it would make exterior decorating a lot easier. I’m not saying crafting should be gone from the game altogether, but as mentioned, it feels very forced. this technically goes for previous installments, but especially new horizons. I hate how limited items are in the catalog. I can understand not being able to order villager pictures for example, but we should be able to order decorative items, even if it isn’t in season.

* I hate how my tools break and I have to stop what I’m doing to gather the materials to create a new one or go to next cranny for a new one. Sometimes it’s closed so you have no choice but to just go through the rigmarole of gathering the materials to create your own.

* Terraforming is EXTREMELY tedious. Don’t give me wrong, I think it’s awesome. How we have such an overpowered feature. It’s just way too tedious to the point where only going to get it done little by little/very slowly I hope in the next game, it is improved upon. This is their first time having terraforming so it is understandable that it is going to be faulty.

I find myself mostly playing GC, WW, CF, and NL nowadays. I still love NH, don’t get me wrong. It is OP as hell and the graphics are stunning, but sometimes I just prefer more simplistic experience.

another issue I have with new horizons is it put too much focus into island decorating which don’t get me wrong is awesome in itself but my issue is the points stated above. plus I feel like other aspects were ignored such as the furniture sets from previous games, the villager aspects, etc. I do appreciate we still have villager pictures, spontaneous letters, and even the barge-ins (though a DND system would have been nice), but I still feel like things were stronger in NL.

 

[Croconaw]

I don’t play New Horizons anymore, but I remember getting overwhelmed when I did play. It was mostly with decorating and terraforming. They give you so much control in this game that it feels overwhelming. I just don’t know what to do with all of my power. It was almost less overwhelming in predecessors because you had less control and couldn’t do everything. I saw the creations in New Leaf. It’s amazing what people did without terraforming. I could never accomplish half of that work with terraforming.

I love how much freedom you have in New Horizons, but it doesn’t work well with my lack of creativity. The thing I was most proud of on my island was my hockey rink. I couldn’t do much with any other area of my islands. Even though I had ideas, I couldn’t figure out how to execute them. And what good is terraforming then?

 

[annika]

i totally get where you're coming from, i was super overwhelmed when i first started playing

as someone who immersed herself in NL, planning out my towns felt like second nature, but there's something about NH that brings a different kind of challenge ig. the sheer variety of furniture and items can be overwhelming, and it feels like there's a never-ending pool of possibilities

in NL, towns felt like cozy, familiar spaces—comparaitvely, i feel like planning in NH sometimes feels like navigating uncharted territory. it's like being handed a paintbrush with an infinite color palette and trying to decide where to start ^^;

i got the game a bit late, like two years after release, and seeing these incredible, elaborate islands online made it super daunting to get started admittedly. like it was inspiring, but it also brought a sense of... "how do I even begin to create something like that?". luckily i've gotten over this, and for anyone feeling the same i really recommend just trying to ignore that feeling as much as possible

also echoing the sentiments about terraforming. i've gotten used to it now (or... as "used to it" as you can get) but that was a major factor in me having a hard time getting into the game. it's really an incredible tool for shaping the land to fit your vision, but it's so tedious and it added to the already overbearing decision fatigue i was struggling with

 

[oath2order]

I did at the beginning when there was so much to unlock, and I still kind of do because it takes me months to actually set up and design something.

I've been meaning to build an outdoor theater for ages.

 

[Doo]

Absolutely. Decorating isn’t really my thing and I feel like there’s too much creative freedom. Plus it takes forever to collect items and stuff so I just can’t be bothered with it

 

[AlyssaAC]

I used to get stressed, but not so much anymore. I actually like games that have a lot to do and can keep me busy for a while.

 

[KittenNoir]

Yes I am overwhelmed I keep changing up my island as I will design and area then come back the next time and hate it.

I just keep repeating this over and over I was so close to finishing my island that I have had since day one but nope I keep changing it.

 

[Sharksheep]

I did at first cause everyone built their island so fast and I couldn't figured out an aesthetic

 

[sashoo]

As someone who was an avid New Leaf player, I had basically played that game inside an out. I was never bored, and inspiration never ran out.

However... there's something about New Horizons.. where when I go to plan out my island, and how I want it to look, and decorate, I feel more overwhelmed than when I planned my New Leaf towns?

Maybe NH has a wider collection of furniture and items, and I can't figure out how to decorate with them?

Maybe people have created these elaborate islands where I feel like any island I create would be mediocre to those islands?

I never felt like this playing New Leaf!!! Tell me someone else feels the same?

Yeah, I get that as well.
It feels like there's soooo much to do on your island and soooo many bells and it just takes a lot of time and everything.

 

[Aznoth]

The game can definitely be overwhelming if you go into it knowing that you have a huge list of things that you want to accomplish but don't have a game plan. I like to take bigger projects that I have in mind and break them down into smaller goals that seem more realistic / doable in a small period of time. That way I get the satisfaction of completing a task while also working towards the bigger goal at the same time. If I don't do this I find that I end up stressing out about how many tasks that I have to work on and end up wasting time on things like deciding what to do or just feeling overwhelmed in general because of a lack of planning.

 

[Dunquixote]

Maybe starting out I did, but I feel more underwhelmed tbh at least with some of the events and some other details that I thought could have been much better

 

[JellyLu]

I'm still a bit overwhelmed with the decorating aspect. I've pretty much got the inside of my home figured out, but my island in general is what overwhelms me. I see all the lovely islands that other people create and I have no idea where to start with mine. I'm definitely not a pro at terraforming and I don't know what aesthetic to pick. So far, I only have all the villager homes organized in a small neighborhood set-up. I also have the beginning of a campground area. Besides that, I don't know where to even start. I got my island to 5 stars with seasonal decorations and such. Hopefully one day my island can reach its full potential.

I think one of my main problems is the flowers. I have literally half of my island covered in one big flower field with all hybrids. I'm kind of scared to get rid of some because part of me worries that I can never obtain them again. I know that's not true but... anxietyhaha.

 

[Paperboy012305]

When I got the game, nothing was overwhelming until late 2020 where decorating my whole island has become the most difficult thing to do in the whole game. It stayed like that all the way until January of 2024, to where now I know exactly what to build where and what they're going to be and how to make them look. The only thing that overwhelms me now is what part of my island I want to have, so many ideas, so little space.

 

[DaCoSim]

I can get VERY overwhelmed at times!!!! I have learned that if there’s an area that I’m feeling overwhelmed with I just put it aside and work on something else instead until I’m ready to go back to it. For instance, right now I’m working on a rebuild around my Museum area. I gutted the very front part of my island in front of my shop in the rec center and I know I have absolutely no clue what I’m going to do with this area yet so I’m just doing this a little little bit at a time. If I get overwhelmed with one, I might decide to go, redo a villager house and take a break from whatever area is overwhelming me at the moment.

 

[Clock]

I get overwhelmed when renovating my island, it doesn't help when I'm digging up flowers.

 

[Kitzie]

Yeah, I definitely feel overwhelmed sometimes, especially at the beginning when there's a ton to unlock before K.K. can visit.

 

[Shyone2313!]

As someone who was an avid New Leaf player, I had basically played that game inside an out. I was never bored, and inspiration never ran out.

However... there's something about New Horizons.. where when I go to plan out my island, and how I want it to look, and decorate, I feel more overwhelmed than when I planned my New Leaf towns?

Maybe NH has a wider collection of furniture and items, and I can't figure out how to decorate with them?

Maybe people have created these elaborate islands where I feel like any island I create would be mediocre to those islands?

I never felt like this playing New Leaf!!! Tell me someone else feels the same?

Yes 100%

 

[Aerith]

The only two things that overwhelmed me were having to collect the different item colors from other players (which has since been remedied) and terraforming. On my old island, I thought that if I made everything flat and started from there, it would be easier... But it actually helped contribute to me resetting lmao. It's so slow, tedious, and I second guess how 'natural' it looks. Hopefully that's improved in the next game.