Is it unfair for Nintendo to change game mechanics with updates?

[Underneath The Stars]

i'm not talking about changes in a sense where it's an improvement, but more like changing some of the game mechanics with the current updates. like say, before they changed the gifting mechanics (to get the villager pic) and NPC visiting schedule. the latter is of course an improvement but the gifting thing being changed could be annoying if they just keep changing some stuff in the future without notice.

for someone who took a break this september, and going through the new discoveries from new update, one of the things that made me do the side eye was removing the cataloged posters unless you've scanned them. change of mechanics has been a topic here before due to the nature of updates, we were like, there might come a time that they'd change something that was ok to begin with. or for example, remove something that benefited the players. i hope they don't do much bigger changes, because if you think about it they do have the power to just change anything and i feel like that's the downside of roll-outs. this wasn't really a case for previous games? i don't think so. it was mostly just improvements. i hope it stays that way.

 

[Livia]

Agreed. Now I’m a little worried that they’ll change something major about the game that will ruin it for me and I won’t be able to play anymore. I’m still upset about the posters as well, and I wish they would’ve warned us first and given us the chance to order them from the catalog before they disappeared.

 

[Underneath The Stars]

Agreed. Now I’m a little worried that they’ll change something major about the game that will ruin it for me and I won’t be able to play anymore. I’m still upset about the posters as well, and I wish they would’ve warned us first and given us the chance to order them from the catalog before they disappeared.

right... and i thought online trading was encouraged to drive the online subscription??? why do they care if someone cataloged a villager poster or special NPC poster because they don't have a certain amiibo (are they doing this because amiibos are coming back? smh)

imagine one day, villagers suddenly can move out without the thought bubble, like old times, without any warning. i hope they don't mess up and do something like that. but because they've been changing things, you know it's just something i thought of

 

[tajikey]

If they came out and provided an explanation as to why they changed something, it'd be more acceptable. As of now, changing something that worked perfectly fine - especially without saying why - seems kind of controlling.

 

[dizzy bone]

Something like the removal of cataloged posters, glitch or not, this far into the game seems pretty silly to me. They’ve given us great updates in patches that the fans asked for like removing the HUD camera interface. That kinda gave me hope for some better quality of life features being added down the line. But I feel like removing something that people have already cataloged in mass (and I’m sure they know that players do this) just seems wrong to me, especially knowing amiibos will be reissued. Either patch it earlier or accept it as it is. Like others said, sharing catalogs with other players encourages online subscription, which should be enough honestly. I don’t really like surprise changes like this either, especially when it feels like a good thing was taken away (like when they patched out hybrid islands).

 

[Underneath The Stars]

Something like the removal of cataloged posters, glitch or not, this far into the game seems pretty silly to me. They’ve given us great updates in patches that the fans asked for like removing the HUD camera interface. That kinda gave me hope for some better quality of life features being added down the line. But I feel like removing something that people have already cataloged in mass (and I’m sure they know that players do this) just seems wrong to me, especially knowing amiibos will be reissued. Either patch it earlier or accept it as it is. Like others said, sharing catalogs with other players encourages online subscription, which should be enough honestly. I don’t really like surprise changes like this either, especially when it feels like a good thing was taken away (like when they patched out hybrid islands).

ohhh hybrid islands, god i forgot about that... true, taking that away was so unnecessary, without any explanations too! sure, after a few months of playing it was easy for regular players to get hybrids so i feel like people forgot about that. but even though it won't be useful for us now, it is still strange how it was suddenly removed.

it's also their thing to just change something without explanation most of the time, which is not good. sometimes when they do, it's vague that it's up to us to read between the lines.

when they finally enable to let us remove the camera interface, which i thought they won't do tbh, it just shows that they do listen and is aware. so on that topic, i'm pretty sure they are aware of the things that players do. if they removed something that have benefited us, it'll piss off players.

 

[Corrie]

This is an example of a downside to the whole updating thing in video games today. It gives them way too much power which can be bad. As much as I like the updates they've been giving us, these other sneaky things is pretty shady.

 

[Mick]

A lot of the 'game mechanic changes' that come to mind - like star trees, the ability to make your own tarantula islands, and the poster catalogueing - are all changes to aspects that seem very unintended to me. They require hacking, glitching, or using weird mechanics. For example, if they wanted to allow us to just order any poster, they would have shown up without having to specifically search for them. That points to unintended behaviour.

What's weird is how long it takes them to actually fix these things. If you leave them in a game for too long players start to take them for granted. They usually fix the obvious glitches (like villagers showing thought bubbles after talking to them or sold house plots bugging out) decently quickly, so I have no idea what takes them so long with the slightly more obscure ones. Additionally, they may very well have a long list of similar stuff that they will get to eventually. Who knows what else will follow?

Then there is also stuff like the ABD interest being adjusted and hybrid islands being straight up removed. Now those are the ones that I'm actually curious about. This is Nintendo though, so I guess we'll never know.

 

[SheepMareep]

I think they decided to remove the poster catalogue because they're re releasing the amiibo cards and think it will up sales if there's something even more exclusive to them. Personally I wasnt too worried about getting posters cataloged esp since i have the Sanrio cards but now it kind of upsets me since this was fine up until they decided to sell the amiibo cards again.

I wish they were just more up front about changes to game mechanics. Like give us better patch notes please so its not as shocking when things are changed!!!!

 

[meggiewes]

I dont think it is necessarily a bad thing all of the time. After all, they made crafting for spooky items completely optional because you can buy them in the shop. That is technically a change.

I do agree that taking something away can feel bad (still miss the hybrid islands). They should be more transparent about things with the community. But I seriously do not believe that they would change something really major about the gameplay in an update.

 

[Bluebellie]

Though I’m not too upset about the posters (since I really didn’t use them or try to get them). I am worried they might remove features in the future that I actually do use. I don’t think they should do away with things just like that unless it’s a bug that negatively affects our games. Like the glitches villagers who kept blinking and twitching...I’m ok with those being removed...but the posters, leaving them there had no negative impact on the game and should have just been left as is. Maybe just make it Unobtainable for others but not removed it from those that already had the collection catalogued.

 

[World Citizen]

The poster mechanic being changed is...odd as I don't see how that could have been seen as an exploit.

On the villager picture mechanic being changed that does very much come across as somewhat petty behaviour as the tricks to get it faster (or getting it fast without changing the interior of the villager house) are technically exploits and not "natural" or I guess in their eyes how the game "should" be played. Same in regards to a makeshift tarantula island.

I mean it absolutely is their right to change the game how they like and "force" people to play the game how they intended. But I personally see it coming from a place of petty frustration at players finding these exploits. I feel this way as there are many theorised Quality of Life improvements players have highlighted (for months) that would make the community very happy...which are usually ignored (albiet some exceptions), and yet as soon as a fun exploit becomes widespread knowledge you can bet that'll be quashed in an update.

Again, it's their game and absolutely their right to do what they like with it. But I do find the swift exploit quashing compared to the much more slow paced QoL improvements comes across as a "my way or the highway" attitude.

 

[Underneath The Stars]

A lot of the 'game mechanic changes' that come to mind - like star trees, the ability to make your own tarantula islands, and the poster catalogueing - are all changes to aspects that seem very unintended to me. They require hacking, glitching, or using weird mechanics. For example, if they wanted to allow us to just order any poster, they would have shown up without having to specifically search for them. That points to unintended behaviour.

What's weird is how long it takes them to actually fix these things. If you leave them in a game for too long players start to take them for granted. They usually fix the obvious glitches (like villagers showing thought bubbles after talking to them or sold house plots bugging out.) decently quickly, so I have no idea what takes them so long with the slightly more obscure ones. Additionally, they may very well have a long list of similar stuff that they will get to eventually. Who knows what else will follow?

Then there is also stuff like the ABD interest being adjusted and hybrid islands being straight up removed. Now those are the ones that I'm actually curious about. This is Nintendo though, so I guess we'll never know.

wait i'm kind of confused about this, because cataloging requires finding someone who had or owned the item. so it won't just show up unless you do the online trading. which is encouraged. (for example, different color variation of items won't show up too. edit: ok i realize they might via balloons, but yeah) if this was something they didn't want from the start then maybe posters shouldn't have been orderable like the photos. there's really no way that half of the year has gone by and they just realized they made a mistake or it was unintended. like what dizzy bone said, either patch it earlier or accept it as it is.

as for tarantula islands, you're right, it isn't necessarily a glitch but it's more like an exploit or abuse of finding a trick because the players once again out-smarted nintendo. using weird mechanics is not unusual in this game. animal crossing players are just resourceful to the point where it's impressive sometimes lol. i remember people would store items in letters to be able to hold and store more items in new leaf, now people found a way to store DIY's, that's a weird method to do but not really a form of cheating. tarantula islands was just that. basically, players found a way to stop the spawn of other bugs, so tarantulas would be prioritized appear more often. it's smart, not necessarily cheating in my opinion. i never liked this method though, because it's still time consuming. i'd rather play the stalk market. in the end, they just nerfed the percentages of a lot of bugs, even outside the mystery islands.

Post automatically merged: Oct 1, 2020

The poster mechanic being changed is...odd as I don't see how that could have been seen as an exploit.

On the villager picture mechanic being changed that does very much come across as somewhat petty behaviour as the tricks to get it faster (or getting it fast without changing the interior of the villager house) are technically exploits and not "natural" or I guess in their eyes how the game "should" be played. Same in regards to a makeshift tarantula island.

I mean it absolutely is their right to change the game how they like and "force" people to play the game how they intended. But I personally see it coming from a place of petty frustration at players finding these exploits. I feel this way as there are many theorised Quality of Life improvements players have highlighted (for months) that would make the community very happy...which are usually ignored (albiet some exceptions), and yet as soon as a fun exploit becomes widespread knowledge you can bet that'll be quashed in an update.

Again, it's their game and absolutely their right to do what they like with it. But I do find the swift exploit quashing compared to the much more slow paced QoL improvements comes across as a "my way or the highway" attitude.

your post basically coincides with my post above. you're right, at the end of the day, they'll have the right to change the game in how they intended it to be, but it is sooo petty because it shows how much, time and time again, players out-smart them and they don't like it. it's not our fault we're so resourceful to finding unnatural ways to progress. this happens in so many games, but they do love being petty.

 

[Mick]

wait i'm kind of confused about this, because cataloging requires finding someone who had or owned the item. so it won't just show up unless you do the online trading. which is encouraged. (for example, different color variation of items won't show up too. edit: ok i realize they might via balloons, but yeah) if this was something they didn't want from the start then maybe posters shouldn't have been orderable like the photos. there's really no way that half of the year has gone by and they just realized they made a mistake or it was unintended. like what dizzy bone said, either patch it earlier or accept it as it is.

as for tarantula islands, you're right, it isn't necessarily a glitch but it's more like an exploit or abuse of finding a trick because the players once again out-smarted nintendo. using weird mechanics is not unusual in this game. animal crossing players are just resourceful to the point where it's impressive sometimes lol. i remember people would store items in letters to be able to hold and store more items in new leaf, now people found a way to store DIY's, that's a weird method to do but not really a form of cheating. tarantula islands was just that. basically, players found a way to stop the spawn of other bugs, so tarantulas would be prioritized appear more often. it's smart, not necessarily cheating in my opinion. i never liked this method though, because it's still time consuming. i'd rather play the stalk market. in the end, they just nerfed the percentages of a lot of bugs, even outside the mystery islands.

To order the posters that you had only obtained through catalogueing, though, you couldn't just go to the posters tab of Nook Shopping, because they wouldn't show up there. You would have had to use the search function and search for the word 'poster', and only then would it show up.

This shows to me that they never wanted it to be possible to order these, because then why would they be filtered out in the normal item lists, and only show up through the search function? That's weird and it seems like the search function was an unintended workaround.

Mind that they didn't remove the option to catalogue any type of furniture except for the posters, they are very much aware of the online trading/catalogueing process and this is not what they wanted gone!


Being able to use the island cleanup services to store DIYs in the lost and found box is exactly the kind of weird mechanic that could be on the list for patching. Either that or they just let us put them in storage eventually. Somehow, Nintendo doesn't seem to like the in-between option of just letting mechanics like that exist.

 

[AquaMarie]

Since the latest update, there is a spot in my river that I can't hop across anymore. I designed my map this way specifically as a little shortcut for myself and now I have to take the long way around. It's kind of annoying and just... really weird.

 

[Marshmallows]

I built a whole secret garden behind a waterfall a couple days before they fixed the jumping through a waterfall glitch. I understand that it was an unintentional glitch, but it's annoying. It feels like it was taken away for no reason at all.

Hacked items are one thing (those should always be removed quickly imo), but if you're playing the game normally and not exploiting anyone or anything, then I don't really see the point of the fix. There's other things that are more pressing.

I'm also slightly annoyed at how they broke the camera and then fixed it, but in the process we lost the ability to have focused and unfocused parts of the picture.

 

[Insulaire]

It is perfectly fair for Nintendo and ACNH's devs to adjust the mechanics of their game.

 

[rezberri]

It is perfectly fair for Nintendo and ACNH's devs to adjust the mechanics of their game.

i agree with Insulaire. ACNH is Nintenedo's game after all, so they're free to do whatever they want with it. this is the reality of all video games. the chance of them making changes like you're concerned about is very slim because if they change something it'd have to be something their consumers wouldn't dislike or else they'll stop being consumers. i dont think any changes they've done have been out of pettiness. they're a rich company lol they're not changing something just because they dislike how u play a product you've bought from them. they probably change things because the things weren't working as intended, they've come up with a better solution, etc. and these are even more likely considering the game was released (subjectively) unfinished so they could still be figuring out what "intended" still means to them and their goals for the game. of course, we'll never really know the reason why changes like these are made so it's all only speculation. but i no longer like to think that things like this were done with negativity bc it'll eventually end up making me lose my love for something i cared about. what happens will happen and we just gotta roll with it u know?

 

[WaileaNoRei]

I agree with @Insulaire. That’s not to say I don’t sympathize with people who are upset by the changes, especially this recent loss of catalogued posters. I’m especially sorry, @Dunquixote, you worked really hard to catalogue and then put in a lot of work to generously help other do the same, and your disappointment and upset is very understandable!

This isn’t too defend Nintendo, they are a rich corporation and have no feelings and also don’t need it/ care (individuals who work there have feelings and may care, but not ‘Nintendo’ the company). But yeah, they do own the game ultimately and can make whatever changes they want. I don’t think they look at it punitively, but they also don’t care/ don’t take into account what we think about the changes. If it is not working the way they intend, they change it.

it’s totally fair to complain and be upset, I wouldn’t try to change anyone’s feelings about the changes, I just don’t think it is a fairness issue. I am doubtful about whether Nintendo really ever makes any changes to accommodate user feedback, but who knows, stranger things have happened...

 

[xSuperMario64x]

I just think it's kinda stupid that they would change something that's such a big deal so late into the game's lifespan. I mean it hasn't quite been a year yet, but to change something that players were used to months after release is really dumb.