Fridaynightcatlady
Sex ed advocate
Not sure about tt, but I’ve spent some time not talking to them and they’ll react like “oh I haven’t sern you in a while”
Hot Take: villager conversations in this game are actually Not That Bad
- Thread starter Lord Citron
- Start date
Not sure about tt, but I’ve spent some time not talking to them and they’ll react like “oh I haven’t sern you in a while”
CrankyCupcake
overthinks everything
I love talking to my islanders. Sure, it gets repetitive, but when a new conversation pops up, I feel fantastic about it.
A lot of conversation, I've realized, is also locked behind the things we do. Or rather, don't do. For instance, this conversation I had with Claude, my sweet lazy bunny, that totally would not have happened if I had not left a bug in its cage outside his house and I happened to engage him in conversation in close enough proximity to trigger the special dialogue.
Another example. These dialogue lines from Dom. I would not have heard them if I had not decided to interrupt him while he was going after a bug. (Because, prior to that, it never occurred to me to interrupt any of my islanders when they're going after a bug.)
Yet another instance. Dom revealed a side of himself I never thought he had when I attempted to give him an insect that I had not yet donated to the museum.
There are many other examples. (I've posted the interesting ones in my island journal.) I believe we have not discovered a lot of dialogue partly due to the way we play. Most of us get into a routine, we hurry through that routine, and then we rinse and repeat, and we never get to engage the animals in different situations that would have given us different dialogue.
It's also a pity that the mechanic behind unlocking new conversations (that do not require a specific action or circumstance) does require you to not only reach the highest possible friendship level with your residents but to also engage them repeatedly.
RNG in this game can be horrific. (Personally I will never use the campsite method again. And I've given up on ever getting the DIY for the bonsai shelf. It's been nearly a year!) I understand why many players don't want to spend more time talking to their villagers to unlock new dialogue because it's not a guaranteed thing.
Um. I've had pretty strong reactions from a couple of my residents when I TT-ed.
A lot of conversation, I've realized, is also locked behind the things we do. Or rather, don't do. For instance, this conversation I had with Claude, my sweet lazy bunny, that totally would not have happened if I had not left a bug in its cage outside his house and I happened to engage him in conversation in close enough proximity to trigger the special dialogue.
Another example. These dialogue lines from Dom. I would not have heard them if I had not decided to interrupt him while he was going after a bug. (Because, prior to that, it never occurred to me to interrupt any of my islanders when they're going after a bug.)
Yet another instance. Dom revealed a side of himself I never thought he had when I attempted to give him an insect that I had not yet donated to the museum.
There are many other examples. (I've posted the interesting ones in my island journal.) I believe we have not discovered a lot of dialogue partly due to the way we play. Most of us get into a routine, we hurry through that routine, and then we rinse and repeat, and we never get to engage the animals in different situations that would have given us different dialogue.
It's also a pity that the mechanic behind unlocking new conversations (that do not require a specific action or circumstance) does require you to not only reach the highest possible friendship level with your residents but to also engage them repeatedly.
RNG in this game can be horrific. (Personally I will never use the campsite method again. And I've given up on ever getting the DIY for the bonsai shelf. It's been nearly a year!) I understand why many players don't want to spend more time talking to their villagers to unlock new dialogue because it's not a guaranteed thing.
Um. I've had pretty strong reactions from a couple of my residents when I TT-ed.
As repetitive as the NH dialogue is, that's not what kills it for me; I've probably exhausted most of the WW dialogue after having played it for several years and I certainly won't deny that it's repetitive, but it's still my favourite dialogue of the series, with CF second, and I'm not sure whether I prefer NL or NH at this point (I never played GC). The main reason I struggle to like NH's dialogue is the quality - the personalities I enjoyed the most before are either bland or weird now. Snooties are not snooty anymore; in fact, I don't think I've had any of my snooties criticize either myself or any of my other villagers before. I don't even think I've heard any mean dialogue from a snooty yet at all, which I couldn't even say about the ones in NL; it doesn't feel as rewarding to build a friendship with them when they already love you from the beginning. And the lazies are just ridiculous; bug friends and just other really strange, gross, or otherwise nonsensical things. I definitely agree with what another user said about the dialogue trying to be funny so it gets more attention on social media and such - a lot of the lazy dialogue especially seems pretty clearly made for that. I've even considered letting my favourite villager move out just because I don't want the horrific lazy dialogue to ruin him for me.
I talk to a lot of my villagers five or more times a day, and it's been a long time since I've seen any new dialogue. Instead I tend to get passive-aggressive remarks about how I have nothing better to do than talk to them - which wouldn't be so bad from a snooty, but it's jarring when it comes from a lazy.
It sounds like I'm in the minority for this, but I enjoy the conversations between villagers in NH less than any other game, even NL. Maybe it's just my luck (I haven't gotten the snooty-smug play one yet, for example, which seems cool), but I listened in on several of their conversations for months before I just stopped bothering to listen in most of the time except for the occasional one. A lot of times nothing even happens; it's just random, bland (sometimes preachy) small talk, then suddenly it ends and I'm left wondering, "That was it?" Those used to have my favourite lines of dialogue, but the only one that I remember actually enjoying in NH so far was where Cobb talked about throwing books and Judy got angry and called him barbaric.
All that being said, NH does have some dialogue improvements over NL: they don't give me tutorials when I'm almost a year into the game (the best improvement for me), and they don't all ask me for a favour the first time I talk to them (although I think they went too far in the other direction for this). It's cool that they ask about what your favourite things are, too. But there's still a lot that they could add to make it more interesting: in WW they'd show you strange letters you got in their mailbox, some of them had weird trivia games you can play, some would gossip about relationships between the other villagers, and there was a lot of dialogue where you have to select an option from a menu (sometimes multiple times) without having it be a personality quiz or asking which thing you prefer (where they'll always agree with your selection). Both WW and NL (I don't remember if CF did) had those slide menus sometimes for certain questions they'd ask, and those could be pretty cool.
Ultimately, the decrease in dialogue quality is likely due to how AC has become customization/decoration-centered rather than villager-centered over the years, which is kind of sad, since even though I enjoy the customization aspect, I'd much rather have interesting villagers; I prefer WW as a game over NL for that reason. I still enjoy playing NH and haven't run out of things to do (the villagers are my major critique about the game, but other than that, I really do like it despite what this post may imply), but the relationships I developed with my villagers are what made me so passionate about the series, and it's hard seeing the game move away from that.
I talk to a lot of my villagers five or more times a day, and it's been a long time since I've seen any new dialogue. Instead I tend to get passive-aggressive remarks about how I have nothing better to do than talk to them - which wouldn't be so bad from a snooty, but it's jarring when it comes from a lazy.
It sounds like I'm in the minority for this, but I enjoy the conversations between villagers in NH less than any other game, even NL. Maybe it's just my luck (I haven't gotten the snooty-smug play one yet, for example, which seems cool), but I listened in on several of their conversations for months before I just stopped bothering to listen in most of the time except for the occasional one. A lot of times nothing even happens; it's just random, bland (sometimes preachy) small talk, then suddenly it ends and I'm left wondering, "That was it?" Those used to have my favourite lines of dialogue, but the only one that I remember actually enjoying in NH so far was where Cobb talked about throwing books and Judy got angry and called him barbaric.
All that being said, NH does have some dialogue improvements over NL: they don't give me tutorials when I'm almost a year into the game (the best improvement for me), and they don't all ask me for a favour the first time I talk to them (although I think they went too far in the other direction for this). It's cool that they ask about what your favourite things are, too. But there's still a lot that they could add to make it more interesting: in WW they'd show you strange letters you got in their mailbox, some of them had weird trivia games you can play, some would gossip about relationships between the other villagers, and there was a lot of dialogue where you have to select an option from a menu (sometimes multiple times) without having it be a personality quiz or asking which thing you prefer (where they'll always agree with your selection). Both WW and NL (I don't remember if CF did) had those slide menus sometimes for certain questions they'd ask, and those could be pretty cool.
Ultimately, the decrease in dialogue quality is likely due to how AC has become customization/decoration-centered rather than villager-centered over the years, which is kind of sad, since even though I enjoy the customization aspect, I'd much rather have interesting villagers; I prefer WW as a game over NL for that reason. I still enjoy playing NH and haven't run out of things to do (the villagers are my major critique about the game, but other than that, I really do like it despite what this post may imply), but the relationships I developed with my villagers are what made me so passionate about the series, and it's hard seeing the game move away from that.
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RoxasFan25
Senior Member
Yeah thats the main issue with the villagers. I mentioned this earlier in the thread but the main issue with the villagers is that their personalities are all the same. In general they ask me about being inside someone's home, reminding me about what I did yesterday, asking me when my friends would visit and of course always reminding me what my friends go by. The other ones like pointing out the items on my island, commenting on my outfit several times, and the most annoying when you have additional players on your island they would always keep asking you what their hobbies are.
Let be clear I have nothing wrong with what they are saying and while I do agree with some comments that it got rid of the whole Tutorial dialogue from past games it still feels repetitive. I mean once you seen all the dialogue you expect your villagers to talk about something else but again the problem is when you play the next day the conversations you already had get repeated. Like for example yesterday Raymond was commenting on my outfit and then the next day when I talked to him he commented on my outfit yet again. Its stuff like this that makes me not want to talk to my villagers because I already know what they will say and there is no point of talking to them.
Its even worse when you have your "Best friend" villager because once you get their photo they don't really do much. I can't tell you how many times they would run up to me try to change name and I told them no on several occasions they would send me mail or gift me items that I don't need most of them was just clothing and furniture. This would not bother me if there was more variety of items they would give you rather than clothing or furniture but having to constantly check your mail and your villager keeps giving you the same items it gets repetitive. So thats why I find myself having to let them move out just to have a different villager.
There needs to be improvement with the topics they talk about and not trying to keep repeating it every single day because once you heard so many times it gets repetitive. Just like Isabelle's announcements when she always says there is no news today and always talks about her personal life.
Plainbluetees
Isometric Exercise!
I honestly don’t mind the dialogue in New Horizons. It did seem a bit repetitive at first, but as I kept playing the dialogue has been getting better.
(These photos aren’t mine)
(These photos aren’t mine)
Plum Pudding
Senior Member
Wow, I probably don't play enough hours in a day to reach that level of boredom with the dialog. It doesn't feel repetitive to me, there are real gems out there! If I want something more profound I'll watch a series or a film or something.
I seriously had 2 Normals 3 times in a span of about 15 minutes have a conversation about what gift to get a 3rd villager. Very frustrating.
RoxasFan25
Senior Member
Yeah this proves my point that villagers just keep repeating the same topics again and again. Its so annoying.
Small talk before they get into more stuff would be nice, but mine just state what I said above. The one liners, what I did the other day, what I am wearing, and holding. When they're done with those they then specify where they are. Like if someone's home is nearby, a coming up birthday/event, or something about the RS.
I've tried talking to them many times and they just do that ignore emotion after a while. Sometimes I get something that is new or at least not what I mentioned above. And I have talked to them daily and gifted them plenty of clothes and stuff.
I ragged on villager dialogue and personalities in NL and since they're even more repetitive to me here I pick on it to. I also remember commenting how they could fix the requests thing in NL by having the option 'Give me work!' come back from PG.
YES! I totally agree! I'm not saying the dialogue is perfect, but some of the things my villagers say always crack me up. One of my all-time favourites is the Lazy villager dialogue about how the entire game is a simulation, only for them to say it's all just stuff they experienced in a dream 
The interaction between villagers is also pretty well done, and I find it's usually always something interesting, whether it repeats on not.
The interaction between villagers is also pretty well done, and I find it's usually always something interesting, whether it repeats on not.
I don't think the villager dialogue in itself is all that bad, but I'm in the minority where I'm not too bothered by the villager personalities. I think that they're different enough from each other that I could point out who my normals are compared to snooties, peppies, jocks, etc. I don't mind that the snooty personality has been toned down from a mean-girl-esque personality to more of a... slightly snobby/proper sounding rich person, or that cranky villagers aren't mean they're just... cranky in that adorable grumpy old man way. I don't mind those changes because I don't want my villagers being mean to me, lol. But that's just me!
The various personality-dependent dialogues I think are actually pretty cute (although I am not a fan of the lazy villagers constantly talking about bugs lol that creeps me out) and I love when they say something new to me, or I get to listen in on conversations between two villagers, or whatever else. My problem is with how few and far between that happens. I am constantly getting the same dialogue - even with villagers who are the only kind of their personality on my island! And that's tiresome. Especially since in general I only talk to my villagers once or twice a day since after that they tend to sound annoyed with me, lol. I'll make an exception if they ping me or if I play in the morning and then again at night, or if I see two villagers chatting and I want to listen in.
I think it's really noticeable when I compare this game to say, Rune Factory 4. That's also a game where I run around my town and talk to villagers/townspeople daily - only with them it feels like they always have something new to say, at least once a day! It's really cute and fun. Maybe it's not fair to compare the two games since Rune Factory 4 is more story driven and has little cut scenes and what not, but talking purely about the, "running up to say hello," dialogue at least Rune Factory 4 has variety.
Animal Crossings only real gameplay is design your island & befriend your animal villagers, with some online play thrown in (if you're able/willing to pay for online with this particular release) which is why I think the dialogue sticks out so much in particular. So much of Animal Crossing comes back to villager interactions and when those grow stale so quickly after starting, it's going to be noticeable and I think it's fair for people to feel a bit bothered by it.
The various personality-dependent dialogues I think are actually pretty cute (although I am not a fan of the lazy villagers constantly talking about bugs lol that creeps me out) and I love when they say something new to me, or I get to listen in on conversations between two villagers, or whatever else. My problem is with how few and far between that happens. I am constantly getting the same dialogue - even with villagers who are the only kind of their personality on my island! And that's tiresome. Especially since in general I only talk to my villagers once or twice a day since after that they tend to sound annoyed with me, lol. I'll make an exception if they ping me or if I play in the morning and then again at night, or if I see two villagers chatting and I want to listen in.
I think it's really noticeable when I compare this game to say, Rune Factory 4. That's also a game where I run around my town and talk to villagers/townspeople daily - only with them it feels like they always have something new to say, at least once a day! It's really cute and fun. Maybe it's not fair to compare the two games since Rune Factory 4 is more story driven and has little cut scenes and what not, but talking purely about the, "running up to say hello," dialogue at least Rune Factory 4 has variety.
Animal Crossings only real gameplay is design your island & befriend your animal villagers, with some online play thrown in (if you're able/willing to pay for online with this particular release) which is why I think the dialogue sticks out so much in particular. So much of Animal Crossing comes back to villager interactions and when those grow stale so quickly after starting, it's going to be noticeable and I think it's fair for people to feel a bit bothered by it.
I really need to replay all of the games to refresh my understanding of the dialogue, but here is what I understand from memory.
Conversations in New Horizons feel one-sided and too linear. A villager will say one thing and that's that. Sometimes they'll say something interesting and I want to hear more about it or even talk about it. But nope. The conversation ends and that's that. A Normal can tell you "I thought I smelled my dad's cooking" and then walk off... like, O......K......? Another problem is that they cannot shut up about what I was doing yesterday, and they cannot stop asking me if another player on the island has a favorite thing.
What I'd really love is longer conversations with more depth.
I think the game having 8 personalities and 10 villagers causes a lot of problems for people. Having 1 of each personality works out great because this adds the best variety in characters on your island. The best you can do is have 2 duplicates, or just invite 2 villagers you completely ignore.
I tried playing CF again a month or two ago and the dialogue felt completely broken. They were telling me the exact same 1 or 2 things non-stop until they got tired of talking to me. The town was only a couple days old, so maybe they are just incapable of saying anything until I become friends. I will have to commit to playing through further to see if it improves, and then of so, how it compares.
GCN is fun because you have villagers who think themselves better than you. It creates a rivalry, and can easily be solved by becoming friends if you're scared of that kind of dialogue. In New Horizons when you have a villager you hate, they talk to you like everything is sun shine and rainbows, so there's no fun. GCN teaches character development.
It's been a long long time since I've played Wild World, but I do remember the villagers were more interactive. They asked you all kinds of multiple choice questions for instance. I might add playing Wild World to my to-do list this year.
New Leaf is just as bad, and I can't see why it gets so much love. They have the same problem New Horizons has. They say some pointless sentence and then walk away. Every now and then in between they will ask you to get them a fish/bug or help them replace furniture. That's cool and all, but let's be honest, 90% of us are against changing villagers house furniture, so we'd decline that kind of a request if we had it in New Horizons. The only improvement New Leaf has in the dialogue is that they will ask you visit them or to visit you.
In some of the past games, villagers could get mad at you if you said something that upset them. In New Horizons, nope. They are happy about everything short of being hit with a net.
Conversations in New Horizons feel one-sided and too linear. A villager will say one thing and that's that. Sometimes they'll say something interesting and I want to hear more about it or even talk about it. But nope. The conversation ends and that's that. A Normal can tell you "I thought I smelled my dad's cooking" and then walk off... like, O......K......? Another problem is that they cannot shut up about what I was doing yesterday, and they cannot stop asking me if another player on the island has a favorite thing.
What I'd really love is longer conversations with more depth.
I think the game having 8 personalities and 10 villagers causes a lot of problems for people. Having 1 of each personality works out great because this adds the best variety in characters on your island. The best you can do is have 2 duplicates, or just invite 2 villagers you completely ignore.
I tried playing CF again a month or two ago and the dialogue felt completely broken. They were telling me the exact same 1 or 2 things non-stop until they got tired of talking to me. The town was only a couple days old, so maybe they are just incapable of saying anything until I become friends. I will have to commit to playing through further to see if it improves, and then of so, how it compares.
GCN is fun because you have villagers who think themselves better than you. It creates a rivalry, and can easily be solved by becoming friends if you're scared of that kind of dialogue. In New Horizons when you have a villager you hate, they talk to you like everything is sun shine and rainbows, so there's no fun. GCN teaches character development.
It's been a long long time since I've played Wild World, but I do remember the villagers were more interactive. They asked you all kinds of multiple choice questions for instance. I might add playing Wild World to my to-do list this year.
New Leaf is just as bad, and I can't see why it gets so much love. They have the same problem New Horizons has. They say some pointless sentence and then walk away. Every now and then in between they will ask you to get them a fish/bug or help them replace furniture. That's cool and all, but let's be honest, 90% of us are against changing villagers house furniture, so we'd decline that kind of a request if we had it in New Horizons. The only improvement New Leaf has in the dialogue is that they will ask you visit them or to visit you.
In some of the past games, villagers could get mad at you if you said something that upset them. In New Horizons, nope. They are happy about everything short of being hit with a net.
Feraligator
Senior Member
I feel like NL and NH are tied for dialogue and aren't as good as GC and WW, but for different reasons.
NH dialogue is interesting when you get into the funny stuff but the small talk ruins it for many. I reckon it could be tweaked by introducing more fetch quests (but obviously not as many as the ridiculous amount we got in NL), or just less small talk in general. Or, hopefully they introduce varied small talk, so we don't get the same ones every day.
For NL, there were really just too many fetch quests, and while I do miss getting my villagers fruit or signing petitions and whatnot, there was barely any dialogue because they kept asking me to do different things.
My favourite is ACWW's dialogue, but NH's dialogue is good when you get to the interesting stuff. I just wish they changed it a little to reduce the repetitive small talk we seem to get every new day, and to reduce the one-liners, because this seems new to NH.
Also not a fan of the new lazy and jock personalities. In past games jocks never talked about exercise 24/7, and I'm not a fan of the lazy talk with bugs and the gross gravy dipping stuff. I wish they didn't change that.
NH dialogue is interesting when you get into the funny stuff but the small talk ruins it for many. I reckon it could be tweaked by introducing more fetch quests (but obviously not as many as the ridiculous amount we got in NL), or just less small talk in general. Or, hopefully they introduce varied small talk, so we don't get the same ones every day.
For NL, there were really just too many fetch quests, and while I do miss getting my villagers fruit or signing petitions and whatnot, there was barely any dialogue because they kept asking me to do different things.
My favourite is ACWW's dialogue, but NH's dialogue is good when you get to the interesting stuff. I just wish they changed it a little to reduce the repetitive small talk we seem to get every new day, and to reduce the one-liners, because this seems new to NH.
Also not a fan of the new lazy and jock personalities. In past games jocks never talked about exercise 24/7, and I'm not a fan of the lazy talk with bugs and the gross gravy dipping stuff. I wish they didn't change that.
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CF dialogue is kind of weird because from what I can remember, the actual dialogue that's there is pretty good, but you can only talk to them once and then after that they'll only repeat the same line of follow-up dialogue (I don't think it relates to friendship level but I'm not sure). If you walk away and come back a few minutes later, though, they'll have something new to say, so I usually just went around town a few times to get a couple of new conversations out of my villagers. It's not great if you want to talk to your villagers multiple times in a row, but the personalities are still there at least. I find that it's not as bad once you get used to how it works.
Fridaynightcatlady
Sex ed advocate
Not sure about lazy but in WW, jocks would talk all the time about exercising or doing sports.
Feraligator
Senior Member
I see, in all AC games I know lazies never talked about bugs and their general uncleanliness. That's new to NH, but I'm also a lot older so maybe I'm more in line with the normal/cranky personalities now.
I remember in NL and ACGC, jocks didn't always talk about exercise. I remember specifically a jock conversation I had in NL where the jock said he was awkward because he asked if another 2 villagers were dating when they were not, and he said they gave him funny looks. Had nothing to do with exercise.
For the record, I'm talking about how in NH, jocks talk about muscles and exercise in EVERY conversation, as I personally find that OTT. In other games, I remember them talking about other things as well on top of the exercise they like to talk about, which I preferred.
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omg hard agree! lazy was one of my favorite personality but now they are just so weird. it doesnt help that i hate bugs and they always talk about their weird bug friends who whisper things to them??? i kinda got used to it by now but it really weirded me out in the beginning. i just try to ignore it now
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to the rest of the topic:
i dont think the dialouge is that bad, new leaf wasnt really better. i think the most things that really bother me are the one liners and when they are annoyed that you talk to them a second time lol
also that they cutted a lot of the tasks you could do for them and they barely ask for the ones that are left. in new leaf it was almost too much sometimes, i had like 6 tasks for villagers to do at the same time and it almost got on my nerves, now im happy if i get one task a day. its really weird. like why dont they ask for fruit or furniture anymore? especially when they asked to replace one of their furniture, i always had fun thinking about what would look good in their house instead. maybe its because we can gift them stuff anyway? idk
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Some of the dialogue is cute but it's repetitive, especially if you always talk to them in their houses.
I think it can take a long time playing to hear most of variance in the dialogue. For example, one time I happened to talk to a villager, I think it was Skye, by the airport and she said something funny inspired by the airport. Another time, I had a wedding flower stand outside and several villagers commented on it when I encountered them near it.
Considering the random nature of the game and the vast number of items and elements in the game, there are probably a lot of funny dialogue moments that we aren't hearing.
I think it can take a long time playing to hear most of variance in the dialogue. For example, one time I happened to talk to a villager, I think it was Skye, by the airport and she said something funny inspired by the airport. Another time, I had a wedding flower stand outside and several villagers commented on it when I encountered them near it.
Considering the random nature of the game and the vast number of items and elements in the game, there are probably a lot of funny dialogue moments that we aren't hearing.
LoyalDragonfly
Gra-ah-ah! This is BOWSA 'eah!
For what it's worth, I've never experienced an overabundance of 'tutorial dialogue' in NL. Once in a while a villager will talk about rolling up a snowman in Winter, but I guess I just don't find that as upsetting as others do. When I made a new character for my town recently, I did get a lot of tutorial dialogue, but that makes sense, because I was playing as a new character... in universe, the villagers were all just incredibly eager to welcome and help out the newbie, much like would happen in a real community. On day two of playing that character, the tutorial-style dialogue was out of their system, and they were back to normal.
