Well, it depends on what you value as content I suppose. I did find my self not talking to much Villagers in NH - but that might be because after playing NL for so long I assumed I already knew what they were going to say. They felt more like a NPC++ than a living thing.
Yup, our own perception of the value of the content is what usually tends to make a difference.
I don't think I called it a minor mechanic, but rather that there were only 3 major additions. I don't personally feel they affect the game much, but I think that the addition of crafting, outside items and terraforming are the distinguishing characteristics of NH from previous entries in the series. As mentioned before, the additions are fine, but, for every new thing they add, a chunk of things are taken away.
Oh yeah, it's a sad reality that many things were indeed taken out. I just think that people usually don't realize the extent and the importance of the usual "main 3" new features. I can't obviously know, but I'm pretty sure they made the developers reinvent the formula completely.
I'm Hispanic and I have brown skin. I didn't really feel bothered by not being able to pick my skin colour. I mean, if you want the feature so badly, they could have made you choose it at the start - and you either stick with it forever, or later on some location opens up where you can change it. Keep in tanning to an extent, so that the summer sun feels impactful... There can be a middle ground. I don't think it's racist at all.
Sure, we can keep tanning but yeah, the whole mechanics tied to it were :$ I'm just glad Nintendo/AC team has made the game much more inclusive than ever.
Ahh, I must have missed this one. Was this in from the start of the game? Or was it added with the Wedding update I missed out on? It felt so far away from the rest of the game that I think I went once, never messed around with it, and forgot it existed.
But... if I recall. Isn't that catalogue furniture? Or does it use inventory items?
It's been there from the start. And yes, you can use all the furniture catalogued, which makes it fantastic for a multitude of things: you can mix n' match until you find something you like easily and then decorate your own house, you can make little scenarios with your villagers to play with, etc. It's a fun feature! I really enjoyed seeing others unleash their creative with the Wedding event and keep enjoying how many people use it to throw welcome/goodbye parties to villagers and more.
I get you're speaking in general here, but, as clarification, if I mentioned something (like the museum rooms), it was just an off-hand compilation of things I could easily recall are missing from New Leaf. The general thought process here is "things were added to New Horizons, but a lot was removed". Picking apart if I think crafting is amazing or not is a bit irrelevant here (which I don't think it is).
Yeah, I know there are lots of missing things and I hope some come back or new things keep coming. It's just that it's sometimes discouraging that the general comments about the game tend to be about what is missing only and/or minimizing the positives. I remember a popular youtuber straight up referring to the new variety of actions the villagers perform as "Instagram-bait" things and completely ignoring them for example. I thought all the actions were adorable and made the island feel alive, and watching them be disregarded so easily just to "prove" that NH wasn't good was weird.
The game isn't a discount new leaf, it's more like a recode of NL. I loved new leaf and I agree, when comparing the two, new horizons is lacking in some content. However, a lot of people are forgetting that moving from NL to NH isn't as simple as drag me over and resize model. NL runs on a 3DS, with low quality models and less of a need for detail. New Horizons is the first game in the series to be in HD, meaning they had to redesign a lot of the 3DS content to look higher quality which takes ALOT OF TIME. I mean, look at the new details on villagers and how HD everything is. They obviously are putting as much detail into every aspect of the game, especially the little things.
Plus when you combine the new features, dialogue, and design of the game, it makes sense why they had so much done on release compared. They are pouring their heart and soul with every little detail but that takes time and I rather the game be looking as good as it does now then having them only slightly adjusting the model with all those features back.
Fun Fact: This game uses more space then the 3DS version.
Yes. The move to HD is hard, and we know for a fact that the team at least reviewed (and tweaked) the designs of all 380+ villagers and they also had to redo all the furniture from scratch. It's not as easy as people seem to think and it's almost a feature by itself.
If you look at everything that was released post v1.0.0, the game was most definitely unfinished. There wasn't even holidays in v1.0.0. There wasn't Art/redd, and there wasn't diving. There wasn't dreaming. This list will grow as they continue to put content in that should have been since released (Likely things like Brewster/roost, re-tail, etc)
The key problem here is: what is the definition of "should have been released from the start". Who decides that? The fans that have wildly different expectations? Holidays not being on 1.0 was a deliberate choice, not an indicative of a game being unfinished. Ever since the first information was presented, they were clear about the game made with free DLC in mind (and maybe paid DLC).
Don't get me wrong, I definitely think NH had troubled development- a delay tends to be solid proof of that. However, they did release a finished product that was going to get beefier when the free updates hit. We probably won't never know the full story, but it's almost clear that NH was needed for Nintendo's 2019/2020 FY and March was the last month they could delay the release. With the GaaS-like model already planned for the game, the things aligned and they could launch a game with the "basic" Animal Crossing features and the new ones; and keep developing new/returning things later. Unfortunately, a little pandemic may have made the planned updates slower and thinner. Nintendo didn't expect the numbers this monster is doing, so I'm also expecting that previous plans have been heavily adjusted.
For better or worse, the gambit has payed off. Even if say, half of the buyers of ACNH don't like the game (be old fans or new fans) and the other half likes it, the game already has more people "happy" than all previous entries.
I see a lot people say something like this, but New Horizons isn't a paid subscription like game, there is literally no reason to keep players hooked by releasing a piece more of the game every 2-3 months. All Nintendo needs is to sell copies of the game and that's it. And hey, maybe some improvements/fixes here and there and real DLC content. At least to me, it makes no sense to draw it out on purpose
I'm going into humor mode now, enjoy New Horizons explained with a restaurant:
Imagine going to a restaurant and ordering a meal, but they only bring out on a small portion of the meal every 2-3 months. After 1-2 years, they have finally brought you your entire meal, but they didn't give you any silverware cause they want eating your meal to be a little be a little monotonous, frustrating, and irritating. When you ask the server why it took so long to get the food, he says "We want to keep our customers in our restaurant longer. If we had given you your entire meal to begin with, you would have just eaten it and left"
It's because NH has a GaaS-like model. "Game as a service" is how some games are made, and although not a 1:1 mostly because the revenue isn't coming from updates, the approach is similar. When NH release was approaching, people always talked about how Animal Crossing was a game you could pick up anytime, put it down and return a week later or so. The same concept applies to the updates and how they are being managed.
For better or worse, this approach also means that some of the perceived problems of things that weren't there on the beginning are only noted by early adopters. 15+ million people played the game without art and bushes at first (which only came a month later at worst), but there are also 13+ million and counting who don't have the same issue.
Don't get me wrong, this is certainly a divided and heavily debated topic! Some people feel that this shouldn't happen while others think it's a high-risk high-reward but great strategy. There is even discussion about how games with hefty post-launch content should be reviewed.
