GuyWithThePie
Senior Member
Hey everyone, I'm back! Did you miss me? Well, I'm here with a list of all my hopes and dreams for the next mainline installment in the Animal Crossing franchise. Otherwise known as "GuyWithThePie Sets Himself Up For Disappointment By Asking For Ten Million New Features And Improvements When In Reality It'll Be More Like The City Folk To New Leaf's Wild World"
THE TOWN
I feel that ever since Wild World, the developers have focused less and less on the town (You know, the actual main game world) for the sake of more customization. Making the town an interesting place with lots of activities should be top priority this time around. Ideally, it would be this sort of combination between the first game's town, the Mario Kart 8 track, and the anime movie.
It should be big, at least twice the size of the first game's, and all the buildings would be more realistically-sized instead of everything being a TARDIS. To make up for how tiring it would be to navigate such a huge landscape, the player can purchase bikes as a form of quick transportation, like in the movie. Bring back cool landmarks from the first game, such as tall cliffs (Not those puny ones from City Folk), the lake with a dock and waterlilies, and those big bushes you can walk through. Get rid of the rolling log and free up the camera, let us really immerse ourselves in this huge world.
Put the shops and facilities back in the actual town, but have them arranged more similarly to how they were in the first game, which had restrictions on the general areas in which each facility could be, (Important facilities like Nook's store and the Post Office were always on the upper acres, and everything else was spread throughout lower acres. Able Sisters was always right by the ocean, etc.) rather than City Folk's completely random placement where Town Hall could be on the lower level with Nook's store two spaces directly behind it. Also, make them angled again. Having every single building face straight forward is boring and only looks good with the dated rolling log world.
BEYOND THE TOWN
The Island should take the best features from the first game's and New Leaf's, and put it all together. It should be bigger than just two acres, and like in the first game's island, you can have a personal cabin there. You can't upgrade it, but having a second home means you can save on the island. In place of the Islander home is Kapp'n's cabin from New Leaf with all its tours and exclusive items. And let us bring our own items. What's the point in having a sweet silver net if I can't even use it to farm beetles?
Bring back The City, but make it an actual city instead of the strip mall from City Folk. The central square with GracieGrace, the marquee and the Auction House is still there, but you can actually go beyond it now. In the actual city you can find many of the facilities added in Happy Home Designer, like restaurants, offices, schools, etc. In restaurants you could purchase food that briefly gives you special abilities, like being able to walk faster, run without scaring bugs, higher chance of rarer fish, etc. The school is mainly a place to learn tips and tricks (So villagers won't bug you about how to take a screenshot anymore), and office buildings don't serve much purpose beyond meeting with animals, but if you want, you can work part-time in these various facilities for extra cash.
ONLINE
When you go to The City, you arrive at the Central Train Station, which acts like the hub world of any MMO made within the past decade. Meet and trade with random players, and talk with them either via text or voice chat. You can also go to their towns, but you wouldn't be able to destroy their flowers, chop their trees, etc. Basically like Dream Towns, but multiple people can be there at any time. However, you are free to do whatever you want in another person's town if they directly invite you there. Just be careful, because they can kick you out if you're being unruly.
Make a compatible phone service similar to SplatNet and Smash World. Here you can upload screenshots, check other players' profiles, order app-exclusive items from stores, and most importantly of all, upload and download custom designs. There'd probably be a machine at the Able Sisters similar to the QR machine from New Leaf that lets you do this. Also, when it comes to sharing custom designs, we should have the option to enable or disable any alterations or copies, rather than have every design you didn't make be completely locked.
CUSTOMIZATION
As mentioned earlier, I'd rather they focus a little less on customization this time, so I left this part a bit further down. The obvious has already been said: A yard where we can place items, grid-based PWP placement, more pattern storage, basically everything HHD already did.
Just get rid of tanning altogether as it's annoying and inconvenient for everyone, and let us choose our skin tone from the start. Maybe give Shampoodle a tanning bed if we're not satisfied with our choice for whatever reason. Everything else should continue to be based on Rover's questions. What I'd really like to see, though, is a height slider. Some of us prefer the shorter characters from earlier games, and everyone being the same height is a bit unrealistic.
I realize a shorter player would look awkward next to the taller new animal designs, so the absolute shortest you can be is the same height as medium sized animals like cats. The shortest height would have the same body type as Villager from Smash, who is slightly taller than the Wild World/City Folk design they're based on. The tallest height is just the same as the character from New Leaf onward, and would be the default.
Also, more custom design options. Shorts, pants, hoodies, scarves, shoes, socks, baseball caps...
CHARACTERS
Everyone's already talked about villager personalities and how they should be mean again, so I won't bore you with what's already been said. But I do want to talk about special characters. Specifically, what I like to call The Forsaken Three; Blathers, Sable, and Resetti. These poor characters have had their personality completely stripped away for the sake of streamlining and convenience.
Blathers
Now Blathers, I get why they took away his dialogue. People are on the go, and don't always have time to listen to his ramblings. But why remove them completely? They should go the Splatoon 2 Sheldon route and give players an option to speed through his dialogue with the press of a button if they so please.
And if they want to read his thoughts on each specimen later? Divide the information plaques into two tabs: "Facts" and "Blathers's Take". The "Facts" tab contains all the factual information you'd get from reading the plaques in New Leaf, while the "Blathers's Take" tab is essentially his dialogue for the specimen in a more permanent form.
Sable
Sable... Befriending Sable, which was once completely optional and could be completely missed by players who don't take time to interact with everything, was made a requirement for unlocking the QR machine. Now I didn't really mind this, as it would presumably give more players the opportunity to hear her anecdotes... Except here's the thing: New Leaf completely removed those!
Instead it's just fluff about how she's glad you came over and regrets not having time to talk to you. This made Sable less of a beloved character with a unique backstory and more of an annoyance to anyone whose first game was New Leaf. Also, most of her dialogue is just copied and pasted from Wild World. She watches Pointed Love on Thursdays, Mabel wants everyone to wear white and green gingham plaid... It's all the same.
Here's what I would do: Have the pattern machine there from the start, and let the player use it themselves instead of being forced to ask Sable to use it. Give Sable (and her interactions with Mabel) all-new dialogue for anyone who befriends her. Instead of having her tell the player all her anecdotes and backstory at once, spread it out. She could have memories relevant to each season, so if you talked to her during fall, you'd get different stories than if you talked to her during spring. Maybe holiday-related stories too, like telling the player what she once wore for Halloween, what she did for Toy Day, Valentine's Day mishap with Tom Nook from years ago, the present Mabel gave her for her birthday, etc.
Resetti
Resetti. There's not much to say here, but I still feel he was betrayed. I know you can bring him back with a Public Works Project and that he'll still get mad at you if you say you wanted to reset, but it's the same deal every time. He yells at you, tells you to forget the rules of other games, counts how many times you mashed the button, and leaves. He doesn't get progressively more angry at you or anything. In the original he did all sorts of crazy stuff, like pretending to delete your town or forcing the camera into a first person view so you're looking directly at him. I want that sort of thing back. Though for all I know this game might have autosaving, in which case I guess he'll have to serve a different role.
OTHER
The art style would be mostly the same, but with a slight touch of realism like in the MK8 track and the movie. I appreciate how New Leaf made it so that only 1/4 of the town's boundaries is set by the depressing giant rock wall. I want to take that further and make it so that instead of Main Street and the giant rock wall, land boundaries are marked by short cliffs followed by vast, rolling hills. You can't actually go there, but seeing a bit of the world beyond your town would be nice for a change.
Special characters resemble their post-HHD renders more, with 3D details and clothing textures. (Comparison of a pre-HHD render and post-HHD render) So for example, Isabelle would resemble her Smash appearance more, where her nose and hair aren't just flat textures.
Let us bring items over from Pocket Camp, because I didn't spend all week collecting Pokeballs for my giant stuffed Eevee to stay in a phone app that nobody will use once this game comes out. That's it though, that should be the maximum amount of interactivity with Pocket Camp. I don't want to collect craft materials or anything like that.
And make more amiibo to go along with the release. Mabel is lonely without her sisters and Resetti's iconic halfway-underground rage mode pose is just begging to be a figure.
THE TOWN
I feel that ever since Wild World, the developers have focused less and less on the town (You know, the actual main game world) for the sake of more customization. Making the town an interesting place with lots of activities should be top priority this time around. Ideally, it would be this sort of combination between the first game's town, the Mario Kart 8 track, and the anime movie.
It should be big, at least twice the size of the first game's, and all the buildings would be more realistically-sized instead of everything being a TARDIS. To make up for how tiring it would be to navigate such a huge landscape, the player can purchase bikes as a form of quick transportation, like in the movie. Bring back cool landmarks from the first game, such as tall cliffs (Not those puny ones from City Folk), the lake with a dock and waterlilies, and those big bushes you can walk through. Get rid of the rolling log and free up the camera, let us really immerse ourselves in this huge world.
Put the shops and facilities back in the actual town, but have them arranged more similarly to how they were in the first game, which had restrictions on the general areas in which each facility could be, (Important facilities like Nook's store and the Post Office were always on the upper acres, and everything else was spread throughout lower acres. Able Sisters was always right by the ocean, etc.) rather than City Folk's completely random placement where Town Hall could be on the lower level with Nook's store two spaces directly behind it. Also, make them angled again. Having every single building face straight forward is boring and only looks good with the dated rolling log world.
BEYOND THE TOWN
The Island should take the best features from the first game's and New Leaf's, and put it all together. It should be bigger than just two acres, and like in the first game's island, you can have a personal cabin there. You can't upgrade it, but having a second home means you can save on the island. In place of the Islander home is Kapp'n's cabin from New Leaf with all its tours and exclusive items. And let us bring our own items. What's the point in having a sweet silver net if I can't even use it to farm beetles?
Bring back The City, but make it an actual city instead of the strip mall from City Folk. The central square with GracieGrace, the marquee and the Auction House is still there, but you can actually go beyond it now. In the actual city you can find many of the facilities added in Happy Home Designer, like restaurants, offices, schools, etc. In restaurants you could purchase food that briefly gives you special abilities, like being able to walk faster, run without scaring bugs, higher chance of rarer fish, etc. The school is mainly a place to learn tips and tricks (So villagers won't bug you about how to take a screenshot anymore), and office buildings don't serve much purpose beyond meeting with animals, but if you want, you can work part-time in these various facilities for extra cash.
ONLINE
When you go to The City, you arrive at the Central Train Station, which acts like the hub world of any MMO made within the past decade. Meet and trade with random players, and talk with them either via text or voice chat. You can also go to their towns, but you wouldn't be able to destroy their flowers, chop their trees, etc. Basically like Dream Towns, but multiple people can be there at any time. However, you are free to do whatever you want in another person's town if they directly invite you there. Just be careful, because they can kick you out if you're being unruly.
Make a compatible phone service similar to SplatNet and Smash World. Here you can upload screenshots, check other players' profiles, order app-exclusive items from stores, and most importantly of all, upload and download custom designs. There'd probably be a machine at the Able Sisters similar to the QR machine from New Leaf that lets you do this. Also, when it comes to sharing custom designs, we should have the option to enable or disable any alterations or copies, rather than have every design you didn't make be completely locked.
CUSTOMIZATION
As mentioned earlier, I'd rather they focus a little less on customization this time, so I left this part a bit further down. The obvious has already been said: A yard where we can place items, grid-based PWP placement, more pattern storage, basically everything HHD already did.
Just get rid of tanning altogether as it's annoying and inconvenient for everyone, and let us choose our skin tone from the start. Maybe give Shampoodle a tanning bed if we're not satisfied with our choice for whatever reason. Everything else should continue to be based on Rover's questions. What I'd really like to see, though, is a height slider. Some of us prefer the shorter characters from earlier games, and everyone being the same height is a bit unrealistic.
I realize a shorter player would look awkward next to the taller new animal designs, so the absolute shortest you can be is the same height as medium sized animals like cats. The shortest height would have the same body type as Villager from Smash, who is slightly taller than the Wild World/City Folk design they're based on. The tallest height is just the same as the character from New Leaf onward, and would be the default.
Also, more custom design options. Shorts, pants, hoodies, scarves, shoes, socks, baseball caps...
CHARACTERS
Everyone's already talked about villager personalities and how they should be mean again, so I won't bore you with what's already been said. But I do want to talk about special characters. Specifically, what I like to call The Forsaken Three; Blathers, Sable, and Resetti. These poor characters have had their personality completely stripped away for the sake of streamlining and convenience.
Blathers
Now Blathers, I get why they took away his dialogue. People are on the go, and don't always have time to listen to his ramblings. But why remove them completely? They should go the Splatoon 2 Sheldon route and give players an option to speed through his dialogue with the press of a button if they so please.
And if they want to read his thoughts on each specimen later? Divide the information plaques into two tabs: "Facts" and "Blathers's Take". The "Facts" tab contains all the factual information you'd get from reading the plaques in New Leaf, while the "Blathers's Take" tab is essentially his dialogue for the specimen in a more permanent form.
Sable
Sable... Befriending Sable, which was once completely optional and could be completely missed by players who don't take time to interact with everything, was made a requirement for unlocking the QR machine. Now I didn't really mind this, as it would presumably give more players the opportunity to hear her anecdotes... Except here's the thing: New Leaf completely removed those!
Instead it's just fluff about how she's glad you came over and regrets not having time to talk to you. This made Sable less of a beloved character with a unique backstory and more of an annoyance to anyone whose first game was New Leaf. Also, most of her dialogue is just copied and pasted from Wild World. She watches Pointed Love on Thursdays, Mabel wants everyone to wear white and green gingham plaid... It's all the same.
Here's what I would do: Have the pattern machine there from the start, and let the player use it themselves instead of being forced to ask Sable to use it. Give Sable (and her interactions with Mabel) all-new dialogue for anyone who befriends her. Instead of having her tell the player all her anecdotes and backstory at once, spread it out. She could have memories relevant to each season, so if you talked to her during fall, you'd get different stories than if you talked to her during spring. Maybe holiday-related stories too, like telling the player what she once wore for Halloween, what she did for Toy Day, Valentine's Day mishap with Tom Nook from years ago, the present Mabel gave her for her birthday, etc.
Resetti
Resetti. There's not much to say here, but I still feel he was betrayed. I know you can bring him back with a Public Works Project and that he'll still get mad at you if you say you wanted to reset, but it's the same deal every time. He yells at you, tells you to forget the rules of other games, counts how many times you mashed the button, and leaves. He doesn't get progressively more angry at you or anything. In the original he did all sorts of crazy stuff, like pretending to delete your town or forcing the camera into a first person view so you're looking directly at him. I want that sort of thing back. Though for all I know this game might have autosaving, in which case I guess he'll have to serve a different role.
OTHER
The art style would be mostly the same, but with a slight touch of realism like in the MK8 track and the movie. I appreciate how New Leaf made it so that only 1/4 of the town's boundaries is set by the depressing giant rock wall. I want to take that further and make it so that instead of Main Street and the giant rock wall, land boundaries are marked by short cliffs followed by vast, rolling hills. You can't actually go there, but seeing a bit of the world beyond your town would be nice for a change.
Special characters resemble their post-HHD renders more, with 3D details and clothing textures. (Comparison of a pre-HHD render and post-HHD render) So for example, Isabelle would resemble her Smash appearance more, where her nose and hair aren't just flat textures.
Let us bring items over from Pocket Camp, because I didn't spend all week collecting Pokeballs for my giant stuffed Eevee to stay in a phone app that nobody will use once this game comes out. That's it though, that should be the maximum amount of interactivity with Pocket Camp. I don't want to collect craft materials or anything like that.
And make more amiibo to go along with the release. Mabel is lonely without her sisters and Resetti's iconic halfway-underground rage mode pose is just begging to be a figure.
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