Playing New Horizons and New Leaf at the same time, and I wish I could mash the games together

[TheKryptoKnight]

Hasn't the lead designer gone on record saying that they have updates planned for three years? I dont think it is a question of if they will update the game. Just a question of what they are going to do with it.

The phrasing used was more "we want players to find new surprises for the next 2-3 years", so no promise of updates, but that's how it's been interpreted. I agree though, I don't think it's a question of if, but rather of what. I'm not sure where all this talk about ending support and pushing a new game is coming from. I feel like some misunderstood what I was trying to communicate with this thread haha

 

[meggiewes]

The phrasing used was more "we want players to find new surprises for the next 2-3 years", so no promise of updates, but that's how it's been interpreted. I agree though, I don't think it's a question of if, but rather of what. I'm not sure where all this talk about ending support and pushing a new game is coming from. I feel like some misunderstood what I was trying to communicate with this thread haha

As long as I wasn't the only one lost about that.

I think having the Splatoon people make Animal Crossing is a big experiment to change AC from a single player to an online game. It is functioning similar to how Splatoon functioned and I don't think it is going as well for people who are already fans of the series. Especially if they started in childhood with the Gamecube came or Wild World.

I also think that no matter how vocal we were about "not wanting a New Leaf 2", people were low key hoping it would be New Leaf with new and expanded features. Which is obviously not the way the team took it.

At this point, everything is just a big waiting game.

 

[TheKryptoKnight]

As long as I wasn't the only one lost about that.

I think having the Splatoon people make Animal Crossing is a big experiment to change AC from a single player to an online game. It is functioning similar to how Splatoon functioned and I don't think it is going as well for people who are already fans of the series. Especially if they started in childhood with the Gamecube came or Wild World.

I also think that no matter how vocal we were about "not wanting a New Leaf 2", people were low key hoping it would be New Leaf with new and expanded features. Which is obviously not the way the team took it.

At this point, everything is just a big waiting game.

You're not the only one who was confused

I've been playing since the gamecube days and am generally okay with how the game is being handled. My only big issue with the online focus is that there isn't a reliable way to get color variants on your own. Redd is the only way... And he brings two items every other week. I really want black antique furniture, but my shop only has brown there should definitely be an NPC that can customize the stuff we can't

 

[John Wick]

I truly wish it wasn't so focused on the online aspect.

One reason I liked AC since 2005, was because it wasn't an online game.

Now I can't even play it properly because I need a computer to get QR codes. Not that I ever use them, but I don't own a PC, so that's THREE DEVICES and an outside app.

I hate it.

I loathe the apps and the fact we have a mobile phone on an island.

All I have is a mobile phone IRL, and I was horrified when I started NH to escape the daily grind of technology, only to be handed a mobile phone.

It was like being buried alive.

 

[Monokuma73]

The phrasing used was more "we want players to find new surprises for the next 2-3 years", so no promise of updates, but that's how it's been interpreted. I agree though, I don't think it's a question of if, but rather of what. I'm not sure where all this talk about ending support and pushing a new game is coming from. I feel like some misunderstood what I was trying to communicate with this thread haha

This phrase could be understood as (for example): "we want players to have continuos fun for next 2-3 years" / "we want players to be active playing for 2-3 years" etc.
I just expressing my disbeliefs in further free updates after the winter one. It may be possible a significant update as DLC will come, but I don't really think it will be update giving us everything the best from all known AC games. It's just unrealistic.

As long as I wasn't the only one lost about that.

I think having the Splatoon people make Animal Crossing is a big experiment to change AC from a single player to an online game. It is functioning similar to how Splatoon functioned and I don't think it is going as well for people who are already fans of the series. Especially if they started in childhood with the Gamecube came or Wild World.

I also think that no matter how vocal we were about "not wanting a New Leaf 2", people were low key hoping it would be New Leaf with new and expanded features. Which is obviously not the way the team took it.

At this point, everything is just a big waiting game.

I got this point, as "nostalgic player" I bought "Link's Awakening" for Switch, because it was my first game for GameBoy (mono). I think, if I would be younger player, having "Breath of the Wild" as my first game, I would probably reject "Link's Awakening" despite quite strong of marketing.
As some of you may know, some don't but I lived in ignorance for many years, and in 2002 (when English version was released) I was 19 years old and this game could be achievable for me, but never heard of it, never been tempted by anyone.
Despite the fact owing quite big collection of Nintendo consoles (still have old ones), big games library, until 2020 never been interested about Animal Crossing series and never had experience before, but most important games from AC franchise is already in my library.
We know, Nintendo likes anniversaries, or at least uses this "excuse" to release older games, as "Link's Awakening" for new consoles. Quite common practice is releasing same game, with better visuals, calling "HD version" like "The Wind Waker".
But, at this point ACNH is still bringing significant amount of money and I wouldn't be expecting any new AC title at least before second or maybe third quarter of 2021 if not later.

I truly wish it wasn't so focused on the online aspect.

One reason I liked AC since 2005, was because it wasn't an online game.

Now I can't even play it properly because I need computer to get QR codes. Not that I ever use them, but I don't own a PC, so that's THREE DEVICES and an outside app.

I hate it.

I loathe the apps and the fact we have a mobile phone on an island.

All I have is a mobile phone IRL, and I was horrified when I started NH to escape the daily grind of technology, only to be handed a mobile phone.

It was like being buried alive.

I personally not playing any online games at all. ACNH is an exception. I meant to play with my GF, but only using local play. Unfortunately, playing "local play" with someone is one of the worst implemented function in ACNH and literally I was forced to buy "online privileges" only for ACNH. I will not much complain about this, as I could afford this, but I'm not happy about something like this. It should be a choice.
Using smartphone with Nintendo application to play ACNH is something I can understand, for example because Switch has no camera, but as most of humans I have only one pair of hands and never had an ability to use my smartphone with my feet.
Resident BD only visible in phone app? Why? Another form of forcing players to use it? Not nice.

 

[John Wick]

This phrase could be understood as (for example): "we want players to have continuos fun for next 2-3 years" / "we want players to be active playing for 2-3 years" etc.
I just expressing my disbeliefs in further free updates after the winter one. It may be possible a significant update as DLC will come, but I don't really think it will be update giving us everything the best from all known AC games. It's just unrealistic.



I got this point, as "nostalgic player" I bought "Link's Awakening" for Switch, because it was my first game for GameBoy (mono). I think, if I would be younger player, having "Breath of the Wild" as my first game, I would probably reject "Link's Awakening" despite quite strong of marketing.
As some of you may know, some don't but I lived in ignorance for many years, and in 2002 (when English version was released) I was 19 years old and this game could be achievable for me, but never heard of it, never been tempted by anyone.
Despite the fact owing quite big collection of Nintendo consoles (still have old ones), big games library, until 2020 never been interested about Animal Crossing series and never had experience before, but most important games from AC franchise is already in my library.
We know, Nintendo likes anniversaries, or at least uses this "excuse" to release older games, as "Link's Awakening" for new consoles. Quite common practice is releasing same game, with better visuals, calling "HD version" like "The Wind Waker".
But, at this point ACNH is still bringing significant amount of money and I wouldn't be expecting any new AC title at least before second or maybe third quarter of 2021 if not later.




I personally not playing any online games at all. ACNH is an exception. I meant to play with my GF, but only using local play. Unfortunately, playing "local play" with someone is one of the worst implemented function in ACNH and literally I was forced to buy "online privileges" only for ACNH. I will not much complain about this, as I could afford this, but I'm not happy about something like this. It should be a choice.
Using smartphone with Nintendo application to play ACNH is something I can understand, for example because Switch has no camera, but as most of humans I have only one pair of hands and never had an ability to use my smartphone with my feet.
Resident BD only visible in phone app? Why? Another form of forcing players to use it? Not nice.

I bought a nintendo online account just to trade too.

I already have an ISP, so I'm paying my service provider, AND nintendo, to use my own data! LOL

 

[Starboard]

I bought a nintendo online account just to trade too.

I already have an ISP, so I'm paying my service provider, AND nintendo, to use my own data! LOL

Getting all colour variants via trading should be optional, not a necessity. Getting QR code patterns should be available without needing the subscription. We shouldn't have to rely on a subscription and people we don't know just to have full access to the game we already paid for! I've said this before but I'll keep saying it. New Leaf was cheaper and had all this stuff for free and we were able to collect everything ourselves without it potentially taking years if ever. Yeah Online is pretty cheap but the game just shouldn't be like this anyway.

 

[Feunard]

I agree with you for the most part, if not all. Personally, I wouldn't go back to playing New Leaf because there wasn't much to do compared to New Horizons after you'd finished decorating your town, but I do miss the furniture variety. Also, I agree completely with the New Horizons dialogue being better than New Leaf's- it's the first "small" difference I noticed when I started playing New Horizons. If ACNH had New Leaf's furniture variety (and Pocket Camp's too- I'm fond of so many of the sets they've released in that mobile game), I would be the happiest person on Earth.

 

[Baroque]

It's pretty clear that some aspects of New Horizons could've used some ironing out to match the quality of New Leaf but, at the same time, I don't think that was the priority for the devs going in: I think they wanted to focus on the island-customization aspect.

It's easy to focus on the many small things we lost but we also have to appreciate the very, very large things we gained: island customization is a HUGE thing. In New Leaf and prior, you could only really customize your house and maybe, like, a couple o' public works projects around your town. You'd be lucky if a villager moved in somewhere that looks good for a village but now, you can get them to move in to specific places. It's a pretty gigantic upgrade from all the previous games when you get down to it... but there's still something missing. almost like a small part of Animal Crossing's soul is missing, y'know? Hopefully the things we're missing will be added in the free updates getting released over three years but, well, it's all small enough things that it makes me wonder why it wasn't in the game to begin with, admittedly :/

 

[Monokuma73]

I agree with you for the most part, if not all. Personally, I wouldn't go back to playing New Leaf because there wasn't much to do compared to New Horizons after you'd finished decorating your town, but I do miss the furniture variety. Also, I agree completely with the New Horizons dialogue being better than New Leaf's- it's the first "small" difference I noticed when I started playing New Horizons. If ACNH had New Leaf's furniture variety (and Pocket Camp's too- I'm fond of so many of the sets they've released in that mobile game), I would be the happiest person on Earth.

I noticed one thing, most of the "old players" really miss furniture variety but not many like HHD. I wonder why? I spend just couple hours with HHD, just finished first two missions and feel lack of tempation to go any further. I can give my answer: "because it looks for me like employment simulator and as an adult person don't really like to replicate in game world anything I'm doing in real life".
I noticed like many players comparing dialogues NL to NH, almost always preferring NL for some reason. My longest undisturbed play with NL was one week or so, I can't tell what I could feel trying to stay in NL world for long.
Never experienced "Club LOL" in person, but current performance of K.K. just on weekly basis, just sitting on wooden chairs in the middle of the town, comparing to a night club is a bit regress for me...

It's pretty clear that some aspects of New Horizons could've used some ironing out to match the quality of New Leaf but, at the same time, I don't think that was the priority for the devs going in: I think they wanted to focus on the island-customization aspect.

It's easy to focus on the many small things we lost but we also have to appreciate the very, very large things we gained: island customization is a HUGE thing. In New Leaf and prior, you could only really customize your house and maybe, like, a couple o' public works projects around your town. You'd be lucky if a villager moved in somewhere that looks good for a village but now, you can get them to move in to specific places. It's a pretty gigantic upgrade from all the previous games when you get down to it... but there's still something missing. almost like a small part of Animal Crossing's soul is missing, y'know? Hopefully the things we're missing will be added in the free updates getting released over three years but, well, it's all small enough things that it makes me wonder why it wasn't in the game to begin with, admittedly :/

Island customisation is a good thing, no doubts. For me, it's worth to mention ability to play on larger screen comparing to 3DS screen, or just playing on much bigger display as TV. Size of the screen in 3DS is for me biggest problem those days, and I can't really enjoy to play on small screens.
Finally, I don't believe Nintendo ever was and ever will be listening players and will do games in their way. Hopefully, we (players) will be happy with most of the solutions, changes or updates.

 

[cats_toy]

Sadly, this is exactly what I expected NH to be. Blending the the things that made NL a long lasting enjoyable game with NH could’ve been the next BotW.

Quite honestly, I’m not sure where the developers heads were at when this game was finally released. Our house rooms are to small, there are no upgrades for buildings, the lack of NPC’s, the furniture lacks in every since of the word. The updates we do get are holiday specific, once the holiday is over we’ve left with pretty much nothing. Waiting 7+ years for a game and get a watered down version just plain stinks.

 

[Monokuma73]

Sadly, this is exactly what I expected NH to be. Blending the the things that made NL a long lasting enjoyable game with NH could’ve been the next BotW.

I'm not trying to defend Nintendo in any way, but I think, after the complete failure of Animal-Crossing-Board-Game made on NL-engine, they may act not as "brave" as they could be, and (maybe?) decide to redesign and just cut all of ties from NL.
Obviously, I don't know the truth and have no idea what was the reason behind all those decisions.

Quite honestly, I’m not sure where the developers heads were at when this game was finally released. Our house rooms are to small, there are no upgrades for buildings, the lack of NPC’s, the furniture lacks in every since of the word. The updates we do get are holiday specific, once the holiday is over we’ve left with pretty much nothing. Waiting 7+ years for a game and get a watered down version just plain stinks.

From a business perspective big N had a head where meant to be. Game has been released with promises of free updates and current and previous pandemic circumstances really helped. I'm not saying Nintendo done this in purpose, I'm not trying to accuse them, but 2020 (spring) was perfect time to release this game and somewhat addict people from it.
Yes... BIG YES, updates are tied to holidays and mostly involving preparations for those holidays... and afterwards we left with the same game as we could have without updates. I'm not trying to say it's a bad idea to implement holidays, but it should be done as initial release, not as quasi-free-update.

 

[Azrael]

I couldn’t agree with you more!
I love New Leaf a lot. Honestly it was the first AC game I really played. I played the original a long time ago and not for very long so I don’t really remember much about it.

The furniture options for NL is just so good. There are so many items I miss and I’m very surprised aren’t in NH. Especially once they added the Welcome Home Amiibos to NL, the furniture is just so variable! I am hoping with the re-release of amiibo cards maybe we will see something similar with NH.

 

[amemome]

I agree about the villager dialogue being super bland in NH vs in NL. I hope they add an update for NH so villagers have more varied dialogue. I have two crankies on my island and both of them tell me every day that they wish they could sail the seas and I could be their co-captain or something

 

[deirdresgf]

i personally hope they will bring back the villagers from the welcome amiibo update. (no, i don't mean villagers like maddie or admiral) i really miss chelsea, epona, cece and viche, marty, etc.. at least i can still visit this in my town, and i'm not too upset about this and it probably won't happen, and i'm okay with that. but it would be really cool if they could come back, along with their furniture. once again, it probably won't happen and is not at the top of my list of future updates for the game. i just really really miss chelsea and epona, seriously..

also, the 'you're looking as cool as a pair of cucumbers'.. i don't even know how to convey how much this bothered me, i literally don't have any smug villagers in my new leaf town because of this. chadder would say this EVERY TIME i talked to him istg..

 

[Feunard]

I noticed one thing, most of the "old players" really miss furniture variety but not many like HHD. I wonder why? I spend just couple hours with HHD, just finished first two missions and feel lack of tempation to go any further. I can give my answer: "because it looks for me like employment simulator and as an adult person don't really like to replicate in game world anything I'm doing in real life".
I noticed like many players comparing dialogues NL to NH, almost always preferring NL for some reason. My longest undisturbed play with NL was one week or so, I can't tell what I could feel trying to stay in NL world for long.

I really enjoyed HHD and I actually think that without it I would have never been able to really appreciate the furniture variety NL offers. Even after "beating" HHD aka decorating all the buildings, I kept using it to experiment with furniture. The reason why not so many people talk about HHD is that Harv's island basically substitutes it, at least for me. There is no longer a need for a home designer Animal Crossing game because NH already offers the opportunity to decorate and experiment on Harv's island in a similar way HHD did.

 

[TheKryptoKnight]

I agree about the villager dialogue being super bland in NH vs in NL. I hope they add an update for NH so villagers have more varied dialogue. I have two crankies on my island and both of them tell me every day that they wish they could sail the seas and I could be their co-captain or something

That's actually the exact opposite of what I said The dialogue is super bland in NL and got better in NH (Better, but far from perfect). The villagers barely have personalities in NL and are all happiness zombies. And as someone currently playing both games, they repeat themselves MUCH more in NL.

 

[amemome]

That's actually the exact opposite of what I said The dialogue is super bland in NL and got better in NH (Better, but far from perfect). The villagers barely have personalities in NL and are all happiness zombies. And as someone currently playing both games, they repeat themselves MUCH more in NL.

Oops, my bad!

 

[Watchingthetreetops]

I know it's not a popular opinion, but I prefer the dialogue in NH. I miss the interactions in NL because you could play games like hide and seek, and I felt closer to the animals. but the animals seem like their own people in NH. they do things, they say different things. and sometimes to unlock more conversations you either have to find them talkin to each other, or talk to them daily.

the expectations were high for nh. I do think a lot can be improved. I'm not sure how I feel about pay to play stuff. I don't think I'll ever like it. But I do like this game and I'm having fun creating my town

Post automatically merged: Oct 7, 2020

Hasn't the lead designer gone on record saying that they have updates planned for three years? I dont think it is a question of if they will update the game. Just a question of what they are going to do with it.

see this makes me uneasy. this makes me feel like they didn't release a finised game

call me an old fashioned old lady but I like my games to be finished when they're released

 

[Monokuma73]

I know it's not a popular opinion, but I prefer the dialogue in NH. I miss the interactions in NL because you could play games like hide and seek, and I felt closer to the animals. but the animals seem like their own people in NH. they do things, they say different things. and sometimes to unlock more conversations you either have to find them talkin to each other, or talk to them daily.

the expectations were high for nh. I do think a lot can be improved. I'm not sure how I feel about pay to play stuff. I don't think I'll ever like it. But I do like this game and I'm having fun creating my town

I wonder, if there is something better in older iterations of AC, not only dialogues but other things as well as mentioned, or maybe this is a nostalgia or just memories of really good hours / days spent with previous games.
I'm not criticise any of those feelings, just trying to understand, as my adventure with AC series has started in this year, so everything is new for me, and I choose ACNH for two (main) reasons:

1. I bought Switch just for this game, so it would be a pointless for me, to put it aside and try to play any other AC games (older ones) for at least one year, and my Switch would be abandoned.
2. Considered as a best one ACNL is limited to small screen in 3DS. I tried to play this game on big screen (emulated) but there is one, big problem - I couldn't catch any shark, what is not a problem at all when I'm using 3DS.

see this makes me uneasy. this makes me feel like they didn't release a finised game

call me an old fashioned old lady but I like my games to be finished when they're released

I don't agree with you in 100%. Except of some bugs, minor ones, in my opinion game is / was finished but not released in full intentionally, because "free updates" are like a magic worlds for many customers / players.
I know developing games is hard work, as I done this in my career, but I was developing game alone, creating everything - but they (Nintendo) have almost 20 years of experience with this particular title, using same / similar ideas with AC series and what most important having a large group of people working with this project. Simply, it's achievable.
As I wrote previously - "free updates" is nothing more than temptation and not create "an ultimate version of AC" is just a marketing, because if they will create best game ever will be no future for another / further iteration and this title will be finished, but obviously they can see a potential of future profit.
Let's face a truth, power of Nintendo is a set of exclusive titles and this is a reason people still buying new hardware and paying for new games, because it's still fun and pleasure of playing those games. AC, Zelda, Mario etc. not getting old and this is a fun for young and older players, constantly.