The implications of each account having its own save file

[Dracyoshi]

The Nintendo Switch has a new feature where you can freely create accounts with their own unique save files, which means you can have as many towns as you want. Obviously, this is gonna change things. You can create unlimited towns for free and if you want to go online you can upgrade to the family plan and have up to 8. Great, great. It's no longer necessary to buy new cartridges or hack your system!


But this has a big impact on how Animal Crossing is played on shared family systems, as Animal Crossing used to require everyone to share their town and work together. Since every family member is already encouraged to have their own user account by the Switch, that element might end up lost to time! Everyone is gonna want to use their own account instead of using someone elses account and most people would prefer having an entire town to themselves anyway.

Will Nintendo add new features and benefits to encourage creating additional players in one town, will they be removed entirely, or will they just be made to carry patterns and make showhouses?

 

[smonikkims]

I hope they will remove the idea of having multiple players in one town entirely, but I also hope you'll have the option to be able to have more than one house for yourself as I'm sure Nintendo is not blind to the fact that most people used the feature for that anyway. I imagine pattern storage will also be increased for the single player anyway. The idea of having multiple players in one town is something I don't think needs to continue just for the sake of tradition.

The only thing is that it wouldn't be possible for family members to play with each other if they had different profiles on the same system, unless there was some kind of tool like the DS Suitcase. But this was the case with multiple profiles in the same town anyway.

 

[visibleghost]

i want multiple characters in game but i don't think it's important to encourage multiple people sharing one town. it is a cool possibility and perfect for having really casual family members play the game with you, but it's not very practical to share a console with another person imo. it's a bit different with the switch but i definitely felt that way about the 3ds at least.

 

[smonikkims]

Oh boy yeah, it does make sorta sense for a home console but I can't imagine anyone actually had a 'household 3DS'.

 

[Biyaya]

The only thing is that it wouldn't be possible for family members to play with each other if they had different profiles on the same system, unless there was some kind of tool like the DS Suitcase. But this was the case with multiple profiles in the same town anyway.

Came here to say this, essentially. Whether it's playing with family members or just wanting to transfer items to and from your second town, this poses a dilemma. I'm sure Nintendo has thought of this, but I'm curious what they plan to do. People seem adamantly against cut-screen multiplayer. It does seem very weird for an Animal Crossing game, but that could possibly be a solution to family members wanting to play together with only one console. I say this with a shared town in mind, but if the Switch were capable of opening multiple profile's data up from the same console to allow multiplayer, that'd be neat too.

I hope they will remove the idea of having multiple players in one town entirely, but I also hope you'll have the option to be able to have more than one house for yourself as I'm sure Nintendo is not blind to the fact that most people used the feature for that anyway. I imagine pattern storage will also be increased for the single player anyway. The idea of having multiple players in one town is something I don't think needs to continue just for the sake of tradition.

I like the possibility of having more than one character in a town. I've seen lots of Dream Suite villages do very well to include multiple characters in order to fulfill unique and intricate themes. And sometimes, if I feel like I want a fresh start but like my town, I'll make a new character with a different persona and style as my main character. The option of having multiple houses per character is really interesting though! I might would utilize that.

 

[Tri]

Because of the precedent for Nintendo to be stingy with AC towns (you could only have one per console on Wii), I think they'll find a way to make the accounts seperate players in one to two towns since the data of any one account's town is still there in system memory/sd card.

GC and CF were all-family towns in my household, and it was quite fun. We were around at different times so we played at different times, we didn't feel like there was conflict there (though of course none of us wanted to pave 80% of the place or only move in one species of villager lol). It would be sad for Switch to be the first console edition where that bonding isn't possible, though it's also sad the nature of the Switch doesn't make it possible to have a clean 'console/casual multiplayer town and handheld/hardcore singleplayer town' divide that satisfies everyone.

Honestly, what is there to do in the regular town that would require simultaneous in game interaction? Most of our direct interaction concerning the game was touring houses (in a backseat commentary fashion), dropping off items at another's house after communicating trades IRL, and competing to complete the fish and bug catalogue first on our own time. It's a shame family island tours would need tweaking to work though.

 

[EpicGamer12]

Multiple towns isn't confirmed (and neither is literally anything else about the game). I am quite certain that the Switch could have a system-wide save data location that AC: Switch could use if it wanted to.

 

[Shellzilla_515]

I liked sharing the same town with my family (and by my family, I mean just my sister lol). There's just something special about having to share the same save file but yet, have their own avatar. In some cases, if you wanted to get something but you can't, you could always ask your friends/family members to get it for you and just drop it off by your house. I loved doing that because there would be bonding involved in-game and in reality. At least keep those options open in terms of saves on the switch.

 

[watercolorwish]

this will be great for when i have the sudden urge to make a some themed town out of the blue for no reason other than "ITS CUTE"

 

[Biyaya]

Multiple towns isn't confirmed (and neither is literally anything else about the game). I am quite certain that the Switch could have a system-wide save data location that AC: Switch could use if it wanted to.

If they do go that route, do you think they'd increase the number of players allowed in a town to eight? If so, a larger acreage would feel ideal.

 

[smonikkims]

Multiple towns isn't confirmed (and neither is literally anything else about the game). I am quite certain that the Switch could have a system-wide save data location that AC: Switch could use if it wanted to.

I hope this isn't the case. I feel like locking players who already have their own profiles set up on the Switch specifically so they can have their own saves out of their own saves would leave a bad impression and set a bad precedent.

 

[Eme]

It would've awesome if you could have multiple towns. I'm wondering if they will bring back selling your town...

 

[smonikkims]

Ooh I would like that option from the beginning! It would be awesome to always have a little saving grace for when you want to reset so it doesn't feel as bad.

 

[Eme]

Haha. I suppose they want to encourage you to give your current town a go before destroying it (with the 50 day/ hours thing). But I agree with you. Or maybe they can offer like a scaled percentage in the first 50 days so after 10 days you could be entitled to 20% of what you would be gotten if you had played for 50 days. Or am I making this too complicated.

 

[smonikkims]

Oops, by from the beginning I meant without needing an update. xD Definitely wouldn't want to encourage people just selling their towns over and over again to save money for when they actually start playing, although I don't know if anyone would do that. xD

 

[Eme]

Oooh, right I see what you mean about the update. I'm a compulsive resetter tbh, not for the money but I just get bored with my town layout frequently, so the 50 days thing actually does help me give my town a fair go.

 

[Garrett]

Multiple towns isn't confirmed (and neither is literally anything else about the game). I am quite certain that the Switch could have a system-wide save data location that AC: Switch could use if it wanted to.

Nonsense. Each account on the Switch has its own save data. There are no exceptions to this. Although nothing is really known about the new game, each account being able to have its own town is a certainty.

 

[Jason Voorhees]

I wouldn't be interested in multiple towns.
I work, and one town takes up quite a bit of my time.
I can only imagine a bigger Switch town would be even more time consuming.

One town for me.

 

[lars708]

I think it may be possible to connect the different user profiles to one save file. Smash Bros Wii U also did that I think (not sure though). But It'd be best to play on one account regardless because of the Nintendo Switch Online service. Of course you could get a family membership to give multiple account access at a reduced price per user but it's still an extra $15 you need to spend.