Time traveling in the next game?

[Alolan_Apples]

Since there’s the ability to desynchronize your system clock from the internet (which is the only way to time travel), there is a new way to check if you’re time traveling. Although Nintendo still allowed us to do so in ACNH, part of the reason why it came out unfinished was so time travelers don’t get too far ahead of others. But that did more harm than good.

Should we still keep it, or do you want to take it away? I added a third option as a more logical choice on how to crack down on time traveling.

Restrictions to time traveling include, but not limited to:

• Inability to celebrate holidays
• Inability to buy or sell turnips
• Inability to play online
• Inability to expand houses (only if you try to do it to a date prior to a previous expansion)

 

[nightglow]

I could see Nintendo do x amount of days for x to unlock rather than trying to stop time travel all together. Most people wouldn't want to open and save their game 30-60-90 times in a row.
I feel like Nintendo got alot of negativity from locking content and then dropping it via update so I'm not sure they will do that again or not. Also defeats the purpose for buying physical copies which alot of AC fans did.

 

[Yoshi155]

I think it should be kept, because even though the Animal Crossing team doesn't like the idea, it's most likely intentional. I also think that a lot of people would get mad at Nintendo if they added restrictions, but I think that some of those do make sense, such as not being able to buy turnips. So I think that it should be kept, but with a few restrictions.

 

[Alolan_Apples]

I believe there should be restrictions. I’m a time traveler, and I like time traveling, but I don’t mind having more of a challenge. I would also like restrictions so I can forced to keep my records honest so I don’t have to waste too much time documenting for a blog.

 

[Mr.Fox]

I believe there should be restrictions. I’m a time traveler, and I like time traveling, but I don’t mind having more of a challenge. I would also like restrictions so I can forced to keep my records honest so I don’t have to waste too much time documenting for a blog.

This. I don’t think removing it completely would be a good idea, but at the same time I would want restrictions around the events/holidays.

 

[Shawna]

Absolutely not!

I don’t really like to time travel in my own games for the most part, but if that’s what people want to do, I say we should let them! It doesn’t affect us. Besides, I’m sure a lot of people who have services (item buying, villager adoption, etc.) time travel, so this will definitely make doing that type of stuff a lot less convenient.

I also don’t like the idea of restricting it, because it to could affect said services people have, especially if the inability to play online is one of them.

 

[oak]

Time travelling makes me feel alive man. I need it

 

[Halloqueen]

I've time traveled in all of the Animal Crossing games I've played since the GameCube game back in 2002. If they were to remove the ability to do so entirely, or add any penalties more extensive than anything they've done prior like rotting turnips (which I never really bother with anyway) I'd probably drop the series. Time travel is my preferred way to play and I frankly find the intended day-to-day style of play unappealing and more like a chore to complete than something fun to do. I don't know why it bothers some players and even the developers that some of us have a preference outside of the "intended" way to play.

I don't see it as a big deal, but if we insist that time travelers not get ahead of other players with the holidays (again, why do we care?), then just timegate the holidays in the first year and update/patch the game at the appropriate time. Not being in their offices, I don't know how much of the haphazard blunder of New Horizons was COVID-influenced as opposed to creative decision-making, but if it was partially or heavily influenced by the pandemic than I don't think that a future game would necessarily be as affected.

 

[JKDOS]

Time traveling is impossible to remove without moving to an always online MMO style system, and even then, Nintendo would need a separate server for every time zone. And then forever lock you into the starting server.

Since Animal Crossing is an offline game, there is no possible way for it to tell time without the system clock, which will forever be changeable.

 

[Xara]

i didn’t mind events in new horizons being time locked for the first year and a half or so, and i wouldn’t really mind if nintendo were to do the same thing for future animal crossing games. i haven’t time travelled in new horizons too much other than to catch up to present day after not playing for a while and to try and get a villager to move out, but i time travelled all the time in new leaf and experienced all of the events/holidays within the first month, which i think did slightly hinder the excitement of them. but that was my choice and right to do so.

i don’t think time travel should be removed completely. i know nintendo isn’t a fan of people doing it, but i’m a big believer that people should be able to play their games however they want so long as it doesn’t harm or negatively affect anyone else. if someone wants to time travel and experience all of the events in two weeks, let them. if someone wants to time travel all the way to 2040, let them. if you’re gonna spend $80-$90 on a game, enjoy it however you want so long as it doesn’t hurt anyone.

plus, like JKDOS said, it’d be pretty difficult or even downright impossible to remove time travel completely.

 

[Alolan_Apples]

Time traveling is impossible to remove without moving to an always online MMO style system, and even then, Nintendo would need a separate server for every time zone. And then forever lock you into the starting server.

Since Animal Crossing is an offline game, there is no possible way for it to tell time without the system clock, which will forever be changeable.

I see you have a point. But it is possible to implement some restrictions. I’ve got into coding. I know how to work it out.

Maybe banning online play might be too excessive, but closing the stalk market or doing a holiday lock are pretty reasonable. Even if they did the same stunt they did for ACNH (which is putting everything on a streaming service), it wouldn’t change the fact that time travelers could still complete their museum and expand their houses to the max without help within just one month. But freezing the stalk market and holidays could stabilize the online virtual economy. People could still travel to other towns to sell their turnips, but everyone is gonna have to take turns in hosting towns with good turnip prices.

 

[Croconaw]

I'm not sure I would still play if time travel weren't possible. I play at a pace comfortable for me and that involves time traveling. I don't see them getting rid of this feature thankfully. Animal Crossing is a game meant to play how we want. We shouldn't judge others based on how they choose to play the game they bought with their money. I know time traveling is frowned upon, but again, people can play how they want. That's the beauty of this game. The most I can see being done is a holiday lock, which I'd be alright with.

 

[LambdaDelta]

what should be removed is gatelocking seasonal events behind staggered content updates

 

[TN4U]

As many other users have mentioned, I did find it a bit pathetic that Nintendo locked away basic seasonal events to content updates, such as Halloween, Turkey Day, Toy Day, and so on. Those should have been in the game from the start, and the updates still could've came along and added additional furniture and clothing items relating to the events when they came around the first time.

When it comes to actual time travelling, I don't see this feature ever going away as long as there's still ways to play Animal Crossing completely offline. Sometimes, when you're building up a town just to show off, you'll have no choice but to time travel. It takes forever to fully decorate a town without resorting to it, as you can only do one thing per day sometimes. It would be really hard IMO to add additional online features to the series without completely changing the formula, and Nintendo seems to like to "play it safe" when it comes to Animal Crossing, whether good or bad. In New Horizons' case, it worked out amazingly well sales-wise, and also caused the fanbase to grow to levels never-before-seen during its peak hype.

In the end, if Nintendo really wanted to prevent users from time travelling, they could've added a time check feature for visiting others' non-Dream Address islands, so that the Switch's date and clock has to match (or come very close to) the actual time. Would I want a feature like that in the next game? Probably not, but I wouldn't be too upset if it were to happen. I would only be upset if there wasn't a way to fully enjoy the game completely offline, as I frequently bring my Switch (and New Horizons) with me on vacations where there's no internet. That's a discussion for a different topic, however.