I'm debating on whether or not to get this game for Christmas. I haven't heard anything about this game at all. I am collecting the Amiibos because they are super cute and I love animal crossing so I might just end up getting it but I would like to hear what every one else thinks of it. Is it fun alone or if you have someone to play it with. Idk i want to hear your thoughts
Board games will ALWAYS be better to play with company. That's just natural.
BUT this game is pretty fun even if you play by yourself. At least in my opinion.
You REALLY get to see Animal Crossing life like it is in the games put into a board game format.
It plays like The Game of Life so don't expect Mario Party.
Mario is a series that is action-packed & zany so it makes sense for Mario Parties to be wild & crazy.
Animal Crossing is a chilled-out laid-back series & this game's gameplay captures that perfectly.
All the famous real-time effects are intact in this game.
Like say if there's a full moon on November 25, 2015 on the real world calendar, there will be a full moon in the background on that day in the game.
It permeates EVERY cutscene seamlessly. So if your character stops on a space & you see it in the background, you'll see it in the cutscenes after each play if it shows an outside scene.
Shooting stars & everything.
Yes, you will play through an entire month of the real world calendar (or less if you pick a time limit).
And the layout of that month affects the layout of the gameplay.
You don't HAVE to play the default month on the game which follows the real world month.
You can pick any month from any year to play.
Two Decembers are not necessarily alike because of the layout of the calendar.
Yes, the town tree grows just like in New Leaf the more you play.
And the board game layout changes too when you add villagers & public works projects.
And yes, those public works projects also get involved the gameplay action.
You'll see villagers going about daily activities just like in the main games.
They'll be fishing, sitting on benches, talking to each other, laughing & since it's real-time you may see them in your cutscenes if it's by the area they're standing in.
Board games are ALWAYS gonna be weighted towards chance & randomness.
But there IS strategy involved in this game. It isn't TOTALLY just a roll of the dice.
The turnips game comes in & adds depth to the gameplay.
There are Happy spaces, Sad spaces, Money spaces, Broke spaces, Happy/Money spaces, Sad/Broke spaces which all have varying effects.
You may just get a little happiness/sadness/moneyness/brokeness or you can get a lot of it or somewhere in between.
You won't know until you hit it.
But with the turnip game, Sow Joan's Stalk Market, it puts a turnip price on every space.
Normally you would want to avoid the sad spaces & broke spaces but if the turnip price is good enough, you may come out better by taking the short term hit so you can get a bigger turnip selloff.
And yes just like the real-world Stock Market & the main Animal Crossing games' Stalk Market, the prices can change randomly on a dime (Don't I know about it!).
You may get a Steady set of prices that may go slightly Up or Down at any time during the week.
Not only that the prices may Fluctuate making really high prices show up or Crash plummeting all the prices to cause losses.
And sometimes the market Closes where you can't sell anything for that day.
Also to make the gameplay even more crucial, when you land on the same space as another player, the Happy/Sad/Money/Broke spaces sometimes turn into Question Mark spaces which can either HELP both players or HURT both players or HELP one player & HURT the other.
A big part of the strategy may be in trying to land on the same space as an opponent either to build him/her up or tear him/her down.
All the while you have random visitors show up to add more fun to the gameplay.
Dr. Shrunk shows up with his corny jokes & gives you special card for listening to him.
Katie the lost little kitty kat will show up & want to play a game with you to pick cards.
Redd the crook shows up & asks you to pay for his cards.
Phineas AKA Wilford Brimley himself will show up & give you a prize based on how you have been playing on the board (if you make it past the roulette wheel of course).
Katrina the mystical panther will show up & offer you a choice of 5 special tarot cards that give you a bonus (or a penalty) based on who rolls that number.
AND on top of all that randomly something called Opposite Day shows up which reverses everything: your direction, your tarot cards, your happy/sad/money/broke spaces.
I saw a player with a positive #5 tarot card—V - The Cleric Card—get penalized when someone rolled a 5 on Opposite Day because things are in reverse.
Also you have 4 corners of the board to try to reach where the Haniwa-kun—I'm sorry—the Gyroids will give you a series of stamps that really rack up your Happy Points.
The object of the game is to get as many Happy Points as possible with amount of money adding to that total for every 1,000 Bells. Yes, money buys happiness in this game in a roundabout way.
Oh & you DO lose Happy Points (1 per day) if you end up broke money-wise in the minus zero area.
So try to keep in the black if possible.
It's very realistic. I always get less happy when I'm broke.
Oh & that's not all. Holidays & Special Events like the Fishing Tourney & the Bug-Off are in this game as well.
Even birthdays! Isabelle & Digby being twins both have a birthday on December 20th so special things can happen to the players using those amiibos that day even if other players land on the birthday space.
One more thing. The Animal Crossing amiibo cards can factor in on this game too.
Each card has a dice number for each villager which gives you a better chance of hitting that number on the dice when you roll.
Either tap it to or hold it then pull it away from the sensor to get that special roll.
It's not foolproof. It doesn't always work. But you DO get a better chance of setting your dice with the amiibo cards.
Some people are annoyed by having to hold the amiibo to the sensor to get a roll but I like it.
It feels like using a playing piece on a real board game.
Holding the amiibo to the sensor keeps the dice rolling & pulling it away will throw the dice.
Sometimes I hold, sometimes I tap for a quick roll.
And yes, after you play you get to level up your amiibo & get Happy Tickets that can unlock new clothes, new emotions, & new minigames outside of the main board game.
You even get change the generic names & appearances of the human guest characters after playing for awhile.
The minigames tend to use the amiibo cards & they're pretty nice diversions.
Quiz Show is very fun to me since I'm an Animal Crossing fan from ever since the Gamecube era.
I hear good things about the Island game but I haven't unlocked it yet.
Taking my time unlocking everything to enjoy it more. I like to savor my games.
To me, this game is a MUST in every Animal Crossing fan's library.
The critics are ABSOLUTELY wrong on this. And this is why I don't trust professional reviewers.
I have been debating that point in
other threads in this forum.
A lot of people who played it liked it.
They didn't compare it to Mario Party. They didn't grouse because the main Wii U Animal Crossing hasn't come out yet.
They looked at it for what it was & enjoyed it.
And they didn't whine about the heavy use of amiibos in this game PROMINENTLY LABELED
AMIIBO FESTIVAL.
Of COURSE the amiibos would have a game that would use them in a more pronounced manner.
I would expect nothing less. They shouldn't simply be peripheral. People want to do more stuff with these things.
I say try it out.
It's fun by yourself & it's even more fun with friends.
A warning though: sometimes it will make you
VERY angry with certain happenings towards the end of the month.
But no matter who wins or loses, you always get your experience points.
My only real complaint about this game is no online.
Animal Crossing has ALWAYS focused on communication between players even in its pseudo form on the Gamecube.
That was a missed opportunity.
I know Nintendo stresses togetherness with couch play & I have no problem with that but they should allow BOTH options instead of just disregarding online by default.
Then again, some people may rage quit so I can see why it might not have been added.
Try it out. You'll like it.
John Lucas
