Rating the changes: Animal Crossing New Leaf vs Animal Crossing Welcome amiibo

[Alolan_Apples]

About a week ago, I rated the changes and similarities between Let’s Go and the original Pokémon games. While that one focused on positive changes, negative changes, changes that should’ve been made, and changes that shouldn’t be made that were never made, this one is more about the significance scale. As I rate the changes from New Leaf to New Horizons, not only I’ll be rating what I like and what I hate, but I’ll also rate based on significance, which is based on how big or how little something is. For now, I’ll be doing a beta test on ACNL before and after the update. When New Horizons comes out, you’ll see this rating with the opinion rating. This only applies to changes, not similarities.

When I rate based on significance, it’s on a scale from 1 to 3. Here’s what it means:

• 3 - Major change: The change is very significant as it changed a lot. It could be a major feature added, a major feature removed, or some other change that causes a huge impact. Even if little input is made to make the change, the output is huge.
• 2 - Semi-Major change: The change may be a big change, but it’s not too big. It made more impact, but not everybody cares (everybody being the exaggerating term for many people).
• 1 - Minor change: The change made was very insignificant, as consequences are relatively minor. Yet I care about it a lot or would like to make note of the change.

Now that I went over the scoring guide, it’s time to rate the changes. Keep in mind that it’s not about what I like or what I hate, but it’s more about how big or small the changes are. These are objective, not subjective.

Changes the Welcome amiibo update made:

• The Campground: Easily the grandmaster of all new features from that 2016 update, it introduces a new section of gameplay. Kinda like the addition of the island or the HHA showcase, but you can order from others’ RVs or buy from Harvey. While it’s only an add-on, it has changed a lot of the gameplay. If it weren’t for this update, my town of MoonGlow would’ve never existed, and my town of StarFall would be my last ACNL town. Score: 3
• amiibo Support: ACNL may be older than Happy Home Designer, but Happy Home Designer is the first Animal Crossing game to have amiibo support. By changing it in ACNL, you could do a whole lot of other things. You can put in your own villagers, kick out others, get new items, or get pictures very easily. Score: 3
• MEOW Coupons: Another new feature associated with the Campground and amiibo related features, you have a new currency. You can earn them for doing initiatives, playing mini-games, or using Wisp. At the same time, they can be used to earn more Bells or buy items from Harvey’s shop or animal RVs. Score: 3
• Mini-games: Easily my favorite feature introduced in the update, but it’s not as important as the others. While it does a good job extending the gameplay and giving you opportunity to earn more items, they only introduced two mini-games, and they’re related to the console furniture pieces. Although it is big, you can play Animal Crossing without playing the mini-games. Score: 2
• New Villagers: Actually, they are old villagers, older than villagers like Agent S, Boone, and Benedict (villagers introduced in Wild World), while they’ve been here as long as villagers like Mitzi, Baabara, and Camofrog (villagers that were never removed). When Wild World came out, many villagers have been removed, but some have returned in City Folk (such as Axel) and New Leaf (such as Ava). After the update, 50 old GameCube villagers (including region-exclusive ones and island ones) came back. While some of us are glad that they came back, it’s bad that these villagers can only be obtained by amiibo cards, especially when these amiibo cards are limited stock and never been re-released. Introducing more villagers is a big change, but there’s so many villagers that I don’t need them. Score: 2
• New Items: When I said that MoonGlow will not exist if it weren’t for the update, this is one of the changes I’m exactly talking about. Happy Home Designer introduced new items that New Leaf didn’t have, and they would’ve been good in New Leaf as well. Thanks to the update, New Leaf has all of these items. Although adding new items is no different that adding new villagers, doing it opens more ideas. Score: 3
• Initiatives: As they introduced MEOW coupons, they introduced ways of making them. If you don’t like mini-games and lack amiibos, you can earn them by doing two daily initiatives and two weekly initiatives. I didn’t feel that this change was major enough, but it’s related to something big. Score: 2
• New interior design mechanics: Moving away from amiibo-related features and Campground-related features, the game made other changes to improve New Leaf, and this is one of them. You can move items the traditional way or the modern way. This is exactly how I designed houses in Happy Home Designer. Not only this is useful, but you can also get pictures of your room without your character showing up. Score: 3
• Additional Storage: This is a major improvement, especially to the most prolific designers. Your dressers are not enough to store everything if you plan on changing the design of your house, especially big houses. It’s a good thing they allowed us to do that. Score: 3
• Lawn Mower and Sprinkler: For some strange reason, they were made unorderable back when they were released in 2013. I knew this is a bug, but some think Nintendo is trying to limit it. When the update came, these items can be re-ordered. Although I am grateful, minor bug patches are minor changes. Score: 1
• Large Items on tables: Another improvement to interior design is that you can place large items on tables. This is especially useful for aquariums. Score: 3
• Interacting while sitting: If you have an item in front of a chair and you get inside the chair, you can interact with the item. This is especially cool if you have a 3DS in front of you in-game, but a little change that does little impact. Score: 1
• Sitting on rocks: A relatively minor change, but we can now sit on rocks. You could have no benches outside or trees to cut down, yet there’s still a place to sit down outside. Score: 1
• Shaking Trees: I remember back in the GameCube Version, I always held a tool in my hand due to my fear of shaking trees in case of bees, as you can never shake trees while holding onto a net or fishing rod. Now you can shake trees with any tool in your hand (besides a shovel or an axe). This is quite useful for catching bees. Does anybody remember when you didn’t even have quick tool swap? Score: 1
• Changes in PWP placement restrictions: A major complaint made by many is that you can’t place a PWP less than two spaces away from another landmark or PWP, or less than three spaces in front of a major landmark. Luckily, they changed that, giving more freedom. Score: 2
• Path patterns and villagers: This is a perfect example of how little changes can have a huge impact. The biggest problem in ACNL was that villagers were free to move wherever they want. They could crush your hybrid gardens or perfect fruit orchards, they can inhibit plans, and they could even move in front of your house. Path patterns couldn’t even stop them. But after the update, you can use path patterns to control zoning. If it weren’t for this, how could MoonGlow exist? Score: 3
• Extended moving warnings: Although some of us are happy about it since we will have more time to stop the villagers from moving, it did very little to change the game. As long as they give us warnings about moving, I am fine with the feature whether or not it changed. Score: 1
• Animals cannot get sick: A new feature in Wild World that was finally retired in Welcome amiibo was that a villager can get sick. You’ll need to bring medicine to heal them. But this is no longer the case. How much did this impact Animal Crossing and its gameplay? Not much. Score: 1
• Anniversary Celebration: One thing people wished for is that you can celebrate your town’s anniversary. How do I feel about this change. It didn’t do as much impact as new features, but it’s not a minor change. Score: 2
• Reviving dead trees: You can revive dead fruit trees by burying fertilizers near them. Although this is quaint, it’s more of a convenience rather than something awesome. Score: 1
• Deleting your town: Finally, I can talk about town deletion. Prior to the update, your only options to deleting a town is to keep it or delete it. After the update, you can choose to delete it altogether, or sell your town, but keep everything else. You can even see how much your town is worth. Score: 2

That’s all of the significance evaluation. Time to freeze myself until the game comes out. Now that I shown how I rated the significance, you’ll see what it’s like to rate the New Horizons updates.