The Resetting Thread

[Aurita]

I don’t think you’re crazy about resetting for fun but I think you should wait a bit before you do it! Unless you plan on TTing, the tutorial & getting KK slider to come takes soooooo long >__>
plus it’s a huge huge huge hassle to move everything from one island to the next & you’ll lose your catalog unless you decide to order everything and move it to your fiancé’s island. You’ll also lose all the DIYs you’ve learned and idk if you were there during the earlier events but I personally don’t want to go back and try to get all the recipes for bunny day & cherry blossoms during eggpocalypse

I get the itch, sometimes I feel the urge to reset my island but when I feel that urge l end up tearing down a part of my island and redoing it and it seems to keep that itch away

 

[Mick]

I think that's kind of crazy. The beginning of this game is suuuper slow, there really isn't an interesting story that is worth replaying, and even with generous amounts of time travelling it would take a stupid amount of hours to unlock all the functions you currently have.

It sounds like a lot of fun, having an entirely new island to unleash your creativity on, but in my opinion the tutorial will kill that mood pretty quickly, and then you're just left with an empty field of weeds with no way to go back!

I would probably take a soft reset if it were possible, to start again but carry over unlocked tools and achievements, but a complete reset? Probably never!

 

[Jessi]

I did that just recently. Maybe mostly because I wanted a new theme, but also the fun factor. They also made remodeling your island so time consuming. I really wish they had a soft reset option for your island

 

[rezberri]

i want u to know, OP, i have written and re-written a reply to this for like twenty minutes now and i Still Do Not Have a Clear Answer nor a Coherent Reply. i want to answer this question without relating it to me even tho u asked for the forum people's experiences but man!! this is such a challenge im too self-centered sometimes. i cannot get over this hurdle, but i want to answer so its Selfish Hours.

knowing myself, i personally would have most definitely reset if i had ur shoes and were wearing them but were still myself. i want to say something about u having another island to store something on helps with this, but no. in acnl (bc i dont have anyone to be my storage in acnh) i found that starting over with bells and some items rly cheapened the experience for me. idk why, ud think itd be nice to have an advantage but it didnt feel nice it felt like i had already accomplished what i set out to do or something. no, the reason i say i would have reset is bc when i get a reset brainworm its over man. lets say it starts out with the fact that i hate my town hall placement. i think about it every time i log on and it sucks, but then i start thinking about the fact that i hate where my lil private beach is, or i hate where my beach rocks are. and then i just hate the whole save. one bad apple rly spoils the bunch for me. but this is me, negative nancy. and u seem like a positive person.

since u seem like a positive person, i think that perhaps u should definitely stick with ur Waiting and Thinking approach, and perhaps consider changing up a few little areas on ur island to match whatever theme or aesthetic has taken ur fancy. bringing this conversation back to me, thinking about redoing my whole island stressed me out so much that i have to nuke everything. rly i should be taking lessons from the hypothetical u, bc u seem so positive this doesnt seem like a whole problem to u. this is all imaginative of course, i rly do not know u. perhaps a few flower changes here, maybe u could redo ur entrance??? or say goodbye to a villager ur not vibing with and bring in one u would like with another theme. just those types of things.

this is the one instance of the "should i reset" question where i honestly think with all my heart either option would be good for u. ig just flip a coin??? after thinking this thru of course.

 

[AquaMarie]

Thank you so much to everyone who posted so far. I really want to reply to some of you individually, but work got busy and I'm exhausted. I'll work on replies tomorrow!

 

[misstayleigh]

ayee neat you gotta tell me what it's like

it wasn’t too bad at all!!! i only reset for maybe an hour max when before on my last reset it was more like a week and a half lol. i was less concerned this time with things being perfect and more about potential—i got a central residents service, east and south rivers, a blue airport, oranges, and a long dock. my one gripe is my native flowers are wind flowers which i don’t love but i’m trying not to be hung up on that! plucky and sheldon are my starters and they’re both interesting haha

 

[Tinkeringbell]

I don't think you're crazy. But whether or not to reset really depends on what you like to do in the game and whether resetting is necessary to achieve that.

There's a few things you can only achieve by resetting after all: Different airport color, different location for resident services, different locations for the river mouths, different native fruit, different locations for the rocks on the beach, the pier, and the size/shape of the peninsula. Perhaps also different villagers in different starter homes, which could end up well if you really like a villager but not the interior of their original home. And well, a sense of contentment and accomplishment that comes with gathering everything again: furniture, clothing, DIYs, materials, the museum collections, the money to upgrade your house, finding your first few villagers on nook miles islands...

I think it's really up to you to figure out if these are what you're after. If you already mention storing items and villagers on a different island, it doesn't sound to me like you would reset just to start the process of gathering and growing an island again.

So then it's a matter of figuring out if moving things to a second island, resetting, and building things back up from scratch are worth the possible changes in island shape/layout, when you don't hate your original island (yet?). That's something only you can decide, but I wouldn't call you crazy if you did reset

 

[Heartcore]

I just reset and haven't been able to put the game down.

I honestly felt so overwhelmed with the amount of flowers on my island that I just decided starting fresh would be the best idea. I had a friend hold all my important items and bells and reset. Honestly, knowing more about how this game works has helped me so much this playthrough. I hated my old island layout and how destroyed my favorite villagers houses were. I reset and it was kind of sad because I had worked so hard on finding some of the villagers I had (Raymond, Judy, Sherb) that it felt all for nothing. But now that my island is completely fresh, it is giving me so much more creative energy to actually play and not dread turning my switch on. I've learned not to plant flowers just anywhere since they spread like wildfire. I found Raymond and Sherb pretty easily this go around on Nook Miles Islands and am back to playing normally. It was such a good idea to reset for me and I've never done that in an AC game ever.

I'd say go for it if you're feeling even the slightest inkling of resetting. Just make sure you take any items that would be hard to get again.

 

[JellyBeans]

I definitely don't think you're crazy - this was almost my exact mindset in NL. I just got bored of towns so easily, so I'd reset and work on a new one and the cycle repeated. I think if you want to do it, and you don't think you'll miss your current island further down the line and regret it, then just do it! but be careful to not get in the resetting loop - obviously you're not doing it to try and find a specific detail within an island which is good, but try not to get hooked on the feeling of starting afresh and building the island up from the ground because otherwise you'll never have a permanent island lol. this was just me kind of brain vomiting so I'm not sure I covered everything/made any sense but overall I'm saying might as well go for it!

I'm also considering resetting but I'm thinking I experience *everything* in the game, then once I've reached all the nook miles achievements and stuff I start afresh and hopefully find some new joy in the game. or I'll do it after christmas. we'll see lol

 

[moonlights]

i don't think i'd ever reset for fun. i had this issue in New Leaf whereby i'd be stuck in a resetting loop, and i wasn't even quite sure what i was looking for, i just couldn't stop resetting. so far i've kept this island for 3+ months and i haven't thought about resetting at all and i don't want to.
the game is so versatile now that, for me at least, resetting would have no purpose, because i can just change everything in my current island and almost make it look like a completely new one. also, i found the tutorial part in the beginning a drag after doing it more than once.
however if you wanna reset for the fun of it why not?

 

[ChanCake]

I'm in the camp Don't do it!

I've restarted a couple of times now and I've always ended up regretting it afterward, which is why I've sworn to keep my current one. So far, so good. It's such a drag getting back to the point where everything is opened up (shops, terraforming, etc) - and you'll always compare your new island to your previous one. While having a new canvas to work on can be exciting, and you'll definitely create areas again that you'll be proud of; it's hard to not think back on all the progress and memories lost. My experience with restarting is that you never quite know what you've got 'til it's gone, and once you figure that out - you can't go back.

My advice is just to begin throwing your current island around. Restyle it, go crazy on terraforming, etc. I think that might work in getting just as excited over your current island as you are about a new one.

 

[Baroque]

I felt something similar when playing New Leaf years ago. It had been a bunch of years since I had started my playthrough, of course, and I still loved my town but it still felt like I was just going through the motions at that point, y'know? I wanted something exciting again. Instead of resetting everything, though, I just bought a second New Leaf cart and made a second town.

But, of course, Nintendo decided to make that impossible with New Horizons, for some reason...

 

[saucySheep]

it wasn’t too bad at all!!! i only reset for maybe an hour max when before on my last reset it was more like a week and a half lol. i was less concerned this time with things being perfect and more about potential—i got a central residents service, east and south rivers, a blue airport, oranges, and a long dock. my one gripe is my native flowers are wind flowers which i don’t love but i’m trying not to be hung up on that! plucky and sheldon are my starters and they’re both interesting haha

neat! I lofe plucky, she was my og sisterly, shame she moved out

 

[Enxssi]

To me, resetting hits different in New Horizons. In New Leaf, I could barely bring myself reset, and when I did, I felt so much regret. I had millions of bells, but at what cost? My favorite villagers, my catalog, my fossils, my designs, my flowers, everything was gone. I was left with a bit of in-game money, and that was it.
No villagers,
No friendships,
Nothing.

Resetting in New Horizons is all like “im bored“ *delete*
The only reset regrets I have are not having someone to hold my bells when I reset.
so yeah you’re not crazy

 

[AquaMarie]

I’ve thought about it too, but I’m too attached to my island and I don’t want to build up my catalog again. I really liked the beginning of the game though and I wish I could experience it again.

That's part of it for me. I actually kind of miss the beginning of the game and it would be fun to unlock everything again.

if you're crazy then I'll be crazy with you homie lol

i haven't reset since like the 2nd month the game came out and been trying to just finish my current island but sometimes I just think "man,i kinda wanna reset lol" not because i hate my island (most of the time) but because i find the beginning of the game so fun to play through and after you get terraforming it gets kinda boring imo

the only reason i haven't reset is because i don't have the luxury of having 2 islands rip

Exactly this! I wouldn't say the game is boring now, but I honestly do miss the thrill of unlocking things and having "new" things happen every day!

i want u to know, OP, i have written and re-written a reply to this for like twenty minutes now and i Still Do Not Have a Clear Answer nor a Coherent Reply. i want to answer this question without relating it to me even tho u asked for the forum people's experiences but man!! this is such a challenge im too self-centered sometimes. i cannot get over this hurdle, but i want to answer so its Selfish Hours.

knowing myself, i personally would have most definitely reset if i had ur shoes and were wearing them but were still myself. i want to say something about u having another island to store something on helps with this, but no. in acnl (bc i dont have anyone to be my storage in acnh) i found that starting over with bells and some items rly cheapened the experience for me. idk why, ud think itd be nice to have an advantage but it didnt feel nice it felt like i had already accomplished what i set out to do or something. no, the reason i say i would have reset is bc when i get a reset brainworm its over man. lets say it starts out with the fact that i hate my town hall placement. i think about it every time i log on and it sucks, but then i start thinking about the fact that i hate where my lil private beach is, or i hate where my beach rocks are. and then i just hate the whole save. one bad apple rly spoils the bunch for me. but this is me, negative nancy. and u seem like a positive person.

since u seem like a positive person, i think that perhaps u should definitely stick with ur Waiting and Thinking approach, and perhaps consider changing up a few little areas on ur island to match whatever theme or aesthetic has taken ur fancy. bringing this conversation back to me, thinking about redoing my whole island stressed me out so much that i have to nuke everything. rly i should be taking lessons from the hypothetical u, bc u seem so positive this doesnt seem like a whole problem to u. this is all imaginative of course, i rly do not know u. perhaps a few flower changes here, maybe u could redo ur entrance??? or say goodbye to a villager ur not vibing with and bring in one u would like with another theme. just those types of things.

this is the one instance of the "should i reset" question where i honestly think with all my heart either option would be good for u. ig just flip a coin??? after thinking this thru of course.

Wow! First I just want to say that I really appreciate all of the serious thought and energy you put into your reply! I definitely get what you're saying about how starting over will bells and items could cheapen the experience and agree to an extent. I certainly wouldn't want to keep everything, but there are some things. Villager photos, items that were a pain to get and not really a joy, specific colors of certain items, and some "favorite" items and clothes that I use or wear often. I would probably stash my bells on my second island so they were there if I needed them, but I do like the idea of earning bells and working towards paying things off again. The bells would likely be tucked away for when I decide to spend millions to move everything around LOL.

So after thinking about it some more...the only thing that REALLY bothers me about my current save is my character name. I was trying to decide between a couple of names when the game came out and I guess I chose wrong, lol. I'd say it bothers me quite a bit, but isn't completely unbearable. Sure, my airport and native fruit weren't my first choice, and my dock is the shorter style...but I don't really hate any of those features, they just weren't my first choice.

I think, for now, what I'm going to try to do is tell all of my villagers to call me by the name I wish I chose (when they ask to give me a nickname) and see if that helps with that issue. I also might move some things around and play with landscaping some more to see if I get any really good ideas that become fun and addicting to work on. I don't know why, but moving all of my buildings to the beach and redesigning everything actually sounds more tedious to me than actually just starting over though. Plus...I'd be putting in all that work and money without even having the benefit of a name change. So yeah, I'll work on the nickname thing and then probably just start decorating for Fall/Halloween, which is the most exciting thing for me in this game thus far. If I become satisfied with just having the nickname and everything else having the other name on it by the end of fall/winter then I will keep my save and work on some heavy duty terraforming. If my name still bothers me a lot, even with them using a different nickname, then I will probably reset (after the holidays).

Post automatically merged: Sep 27, 2020

I just reset and haven't been able to put the game down.

I honestly felt so overwhelmed with the amount of flowers on my island that I just decided starting fresh would be the best idea. I had a friend hold all my important items and bells and reset. Honestly, knowing more about how this game works has helped me so much this playthrough. I hated my old island layout and how destroyed my favorite villagers houses were. I reset and it was kind of sad because I had worked so hard on finding some of the villagers I had (Raymond, Judy, Sherb) that it felt all for nothing. But now that my island is completely fresh, it is giving me so much more creative energy to actually play and not dread turning my switch on. I've learned not to plant flowers just anywhere since they spread like wildfire. I found Raymond and Sherb pretty easily this go around on Nook Miles Islands and am back to playing normally. It was such a good idea to reset for me and I've never done that in an AC game ever.

I'd say go for it if you're feeling even the slightest inkling of resetting. Just make sure you take any items that would be hard to get again.

I feel this too. I feel like it's more work to move flowers buildings, paths, re-terraform, etc than it would be just just reset and start fresh. I also feel like I have more ideas than when I first started and a better idea of what I want and how everything works.

I'm glad resetting worked for you and you were able to get your villagers back so easily! (I have amiibo cards for most of my villagers and can hold Raymond and Cyd on my other island if needed).

 

[HappyTails]

I reset last night and I don't regret it at all. I love my new island and my new island name. But I don't think resetting for fun is a good idea. Especially if you sank a lot of work into your island. But on the other hand, it's your island, you do what you think is best. If you want to reset, then do it. I mean the only person affected by resetting is you and you alone. So what anyone else thinks really shouldn't matter.

 

[saucySheep]

uh, do what pleases you, but I prob wouldn't.... unless you really can't work with your island and you just really don't like it then i don't see why you should reset...

i'm getting a switch lite so i'll have to make a new island and that's exciting but i'll never, ever let go of my 1st island, beautiful, lovely Sos island.

 

[misstayleigh]

hello it's me captain dingdong back to resetting bc i decided i want oranges and a green airport instead of blue LMAO

 

[Monokuma73]

I know there is a resetting thread, but I feel like this is a little different, so hopefully I can post it here.

I can't seem to get this off my mind today and it just kind of came to me out of the blue. There is nothing that I hate about my island...nothing driving me crazy, but for some reason I started thinking about resetting.

There was a time when I could never even imagine resetting an AC town. Why would I throw away all the hard work and memories?

But all of a sudden it sounds exciting. My head is getting filled with decorating and landscaping ideas, looking at and choosing a new map sounds fun. This time around, there is SO MUCH we can change about our islands, so I will probably just pretend that I just "remodeled" everything, including the things we can't actually change. If the airport is a different color it will be because I "painted" it. If RS is in a new area it will be because I funded a project to have it moved to a more ideal location.

I have a second island I share with my fiance, so there will be no problem saving bells, items, and even villagers if I need to. I can just transfer the most important things to the second island for safekeeping.

If I do go through with this, I won't just do it on a whim. And I don't want to miss out on holidays because I'm too busy resetting or stuck in the tutorial. So I will for sure wait until after Halloween, and possibly even after Christmas.

Have any of you reset just for fun? How did you feel afterwards? Any advice you have for me?

Maybe my situation was slightly different, but at least something is similar - you have someone (trusty) who can store your precious items / bells / whatever is worthy to keep, and think about this like me: first attempt was a really long tutorial, and now having knowledge and experience, without haste and anything like this, with own pace you could create something amazing.
On the top of this, as you have a loved person, sharing not only island, but passion about ACNH - think about this, as he will provide any necessary help if you will need this. New island, may be treated by you like I've done, as I call it: "New Game +".
Obviously, you will lose all of your work, but you don't have to loose your memories as most probably you made some pictures. But, if you haven't done enough pictures yet, maybe before you will say "good bye" to your old island, make some (lot?) of pictures and store them, as your memories and those pictures will stay with you as long as you want, and with new island you will create new memories.
I can tell you from my experience, as me and my GF having own Switches, own islands, when I started new game even just simple transferring goods was fun, waiting for bigger storage etc.
Final advice: if you feeling excited about resetting and starting all over again, which is not a fresh start as you may have quite lot from your previous island, do this... and start your adventure once more, but this time do everything slower, choose island wisely, and if you not happy with this what they offering, reset again and again.
When starting look carefully on island layout, on colours of plane and airport and on the native fruits and try to find something what will be different than you fiance one, as it could give you both opportunity to admire each other.
Good luck!

 

[Dio]

If you hit a certain point in the game, I believe resetting is not a good idea at all. I have all furniture cataloged recently from Nook's Cranny and a majority of the recipes I needed, along with materials and other hard to get items where it would be too tedious for me to reset. I could always send my stuff to my second island but the amount of time/effort of sending and getting back my items sounds annoying :x. I was really thinking about resetting my island this week but losing all the DIYs i learned was enough to convince me otherwise