What is your experience with Animal Crossing: New Leaf?

[fluffyclouds]

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Hello! I'm Panda.

I have been playing a lot of Animal Crossing Games for the past couple of years. It has a positive impact on my life and mental health. When I first started playing Animal Crossing: New Leaf, I didn't know that this game would have such an impact. Every time I open Animal Crossing: New Leaf and talk to my villagers, I am filled with so much happiness. When I'm feeling any emotion, I go on New leaf. I love this game so much. I could go on and on.

Anyway, what are your favorite experiences with the game, What do you love about the game and who is your favorite villager(s)?

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[Mayor Ng]

Hello! I'm Mayor Ng
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Firstly, I'm glad AC games have been a positive experience for you I've only ever played New Leaf based on my existing memories. My favourite memories are probably when I was first introduced to ACNL by my elder sister and when I got the game for myself and started playing it in 2013. I remember how I felt first playing ACNL, it was like having a second life, different than the one I was living in then. I also remember the adventures when my elder sister, her bf-now-husband and I would have when we traveled to Japan and brought our 3DS XL consoles with us while we sightsee to spot-pass and collect exclusive DLCs at the time. All very fond memories

The one thing that I love about the game is that you are free to play it however you want and it gives you a platform to have another virtual life in the game. I like having a routine that I can follow and it helps build discipline. With the Welcome Amiibo update, there are more items now in the game than when I stopped playing sometime around 2014 while I was going through my senior high school year and preparing for university. Hence, coming back to the game 6 years later because of the pandemic brings an added excitement. The game also serves as a form of escapism from the happenings in the real world or at least to alleviate some of the negativity caused by the pandemic during this trying times. When we are not able to be social actively in real life, at least we can be social with the villagers in our town

My favourite villager currently in my town is Diana. She's adorable and always quite the character with her dialogue. I've made it a goal to replace replaceable furnitues in her home with the princess series furnitures because she deserves to be a princess in my town So far, I've replaced her regal table with the princess table, her regal dresser with the princess chest, her chaise lounge with the princess sofa, and the plant beside her whirlpool bath with the princess dresser. I've also replaced her harp with the Virgo harp. I'm not sure if I can replace the mermaid screen and the mermaid lamp in her home but I would like to replace the both items with the violet screen or ivy partition and the princess lamp

 

[Neb]

To be honest, I don't remember where I first heard about New Leaf. I do know I rented a copy sometime in 2014 and was given the game as a birthday present a year later. Right away I was amazed by how relaxing this series is. I could turn on New Leaf at any time and forget about everything that gave me anxiety. My fondest memories with the game were spent during multiplayer sessions. I had so much fun playing minigames with both IRL friends and online friends. It's a shame they were removed in New Horizons since they gave some much needed variety from visiting other people's towns. New Leaf also introduced me to Harriet, my all time favorite AC character. Her sweet southern-like charm was so sweet.

 

[matt2019]

I loved new leaf for years. It really was an amazing game but it just doesn’t feel quite the same now that new horizons is here

 

[DinosaurDumpster]

Amazing.
Shame on myself for thinking AC looked boring when I saw it at first.
It's honestly super awesome and Cece is my child. If it had terraforming, about the same layout, and the custom design mechanics from NH, i'd love it so much more.

 

[LadyDestani]

Animal Crossing is my escape from the stress of the real world. When I log into New Leaf every day and talk to my villagers, it's like I'm living my perfect life. That's my favorite thing to do in the game is just interact with my animal friends and try to make them happy. It's a real treat whenever I see a piece of new dialogue too, now that I've been playing the game for a couple of years, but it has happened a few times recently. That sort of thing really brightens my day.

 

[hakutaku]

New Leaf is definitely my favourite AC game. Eventually your town starts to feel like a second home the more you play. I've been playing off and on for the past two years but I made this new town in May and I've played more and gotten further in the game than I ever have before. What I really like is that there's something to look forward to everyday.

 

[saucySheep]

lOve it haha. adorable and relaxing

 

[BluebearL]

I started playing New Leaf in 2018, it was my second game in the series that I'd played and at the time I was in school and had a lot of time for it so it will always remain my favourite since it has a lot of time put into it by me and is therefore nostalgic. There is definitely an escapist element of it for me, it was always fun, relaxing and yet exciting to play. Especially when I felt most anxious. It also led me to the forums which has also had a largely positive impact on me. It's just so enjoyable!

My favourite villagers are: Bluebear, Dizzy, Hugh, Agnes, Etoile, Vesta, Boots, Del, Hopper and the list goes on now that I think about it honestly.

 

[Elias_]

I got New Leaf on launch day and still play it from time to time. The atmosphere of the game is absolutely incredible and it strikes a great balance between designing your town and given you activities to do (e.g. the minigame island).

 

[JKDOS]

I anticipated this game the moment the 3DS came out, and it felt like this game was taking so long for this game to be announced and arrive I couldn't wait much longer, so I purchased a 3DS from Japan just to start playing immediately when it released in Nov 2012 in Japan, well before its NA release on Jun 9 2013. I had to put up with not knowing what was going on for the time being since I don't know Japanese, and translation technology was not good enough back then. This was a bit frustrating at times because I had no idea what Isabelle was trying to tell me in the beginning of the game or what Shrunk wanted for example.

My favorite villager, who I was literally lucky enough to get through random move in, is Punchy. Punchy remains my best friend in Animal Crossing.

The game was great compared to its predecessors. I can list a lot of stuff.

• I loved that we were able to see a few map choices at the start. With past games, like Wild World, you had to get all the way to the town hall to see if the map was any good or not.
• I loved being able to place my house where I wanted it rather than have it left to RNG placement.
• Re-tail was a fun new addition to the game. Selling overpriced junk to villagers was fun.
• Bridge building. This was awesome. This helped make the map you picked even better since you could decide where each bridge was located.
• The shopping district is cool, but it is just a rehash of the city in City Folk.
• I'll admit the music isn't as good as Wild World, but its not bad.
• PANTS, SHOES, and SOCKS! We can finally wear pants! Shoes! And Socks!
• DJ K.K. . One of the greatest things in this game is DJ K.K. Those remixes were amazing to listen to at night when you're bored.
• Museum gift shop. The giftshop was one of my favorite things about this game. Designing my own exabits was fun. My only disappointment is that people visiting through dreams couldn't see them.
• Dreams! This feature is amazing. And since you can search for dreams by town name, I'll say it was better than it is in New Horizons!
• Summer (Tortimer) Island. This was a neat little feature. The summer island is a great way to get out of the snow for a while, and was great for catching sharks, and farming beetles. I also found it possible to steal flowers from the island minigames, which helped achievement a perfect town rating.
• Pro Designs. This opened the door for better designs, and with the invention of importing designs though QR codes was great since you could now get ahold of some made by talented players.
• Town ordinances. The Bell Boom ordnance was cool because I was able to make bells faster. And later, the Beautiful Town ordanance was awesome because my flowers stopped dying.
• Best Friends. This feature was cool because you could speak with friends without being over their town. I wish we had this in Wild World, which is when I felt the AC community was the most social (In game).
• PWP. I'm not too big of a fan, but I thought it was cool to put some benches and streetlamps around the town.

There are some things I didn't like though. Most of which are due to villagers.

• Villagers would put their house literally anywhere on the map it would fit. This could cause them to put it 1-2 squares away from something like the Train Station or Town Hall. It was too messy and chaotic for me.
• When a villager is in boxes. That's it. They are leaving. This may not be a problem for new players, but I've always been use to villagers being in boxes and you can beg them not to leave. They would agree and the next day they would be out of boxes and back to normal.
• Villagers ask to move out, and after you say "Goodbye" they change their mind. This is extremely frustrating when a villager you want out is like "I'm moving..... psych!"
• Dialogue is bland and repetitive. Hasn't been good since Wild World apparently.
• Balloons. Balloon furniture was disgusting.
• Unlocking PWPs. The way the game unlocks certain PWP projects was terrible. It took years just to get the police station.
• There are some minor annoyances, but I can't remember them off the top of my head.

 

[huuussein]

i got new leaf a couple of years after its first release, as i have never played an animal crossing game before that. i watched a couple of my favorite streamers play during the christmas time and i had so much fun watching them, that i finally decided to give it a try! to my surprise, it turned out to be one of my favorite 3ds games and one of my favorite gaming franchies of all time. lucky for me, i had lots of friends on discord who also played new leaf, so they helped me with the basics and taught me everything i needed to know. it's seriously so crazy to think back at how many days i stayed up late to play with my friends from across the world to play silly mini games on tortimer's island, i kinda miss it i'm still friends with those people though, so it's all good also because of new leaf i found this website and have had lots of sweet and generous people help me build the town of my dreams <3 i'd like to say after 600+ hours of playtime i have done everything there is for me to do in new leaf, i don't think i'll ever open up my game again any time soon, but it has brought me lots of new friends and lots of joy <3

 

[CasualWheezer]

I got New Leaf in June of 2019, so long after the game had come out. My 2DS was and still is the only console that I can play whenever I want and I was thinking about getting a new game for my birthday, something different than the several Mario games that I have. So I thought about Animal Crossing, I asked a friend who played New Leaf and he said it was a good game. I eventually bought the game before my birthday. I loved it and spent so much time that summer playing it. It did leave an impact on me that few other games have done before, I didn't have many people to talk to then so that was kind of my escape from that. I stopped playing as much when school started but still found the time to play once in a while but I wasn't as devoted as I was before. I played it more when I had time off from school and all that. I think I started playing more last year when the pandemic hit but really starting getting back into it in the late summer and fall since it was a way out from everything that was going on around me and still has really helped me out because of that. I try to play every day and play more on the weekends. So in that sense, New Leaf has helped me get by these times and I'm thankful I have it.

 

[Fraxxo]

I got New Leaf sometimes around february of 2014, I don't exactly remember the date but I am sure it was winter, and since I didn't get it for Christmas, I think it was around the beginning of the new year.

I remember buying this game out of curiosity when I was little (at february of 2012 I was 10), and even if I didn't understand much from the trailers, there was something mysteryous about the game graphics, mechanics, music and concept that made me curious to try it.
My first town was always a mess because I didn't really played everyday, sometimes I even forgot the games for weeks, but I loved custom designs, my little character, his house and many other small things.
I decided to play in a serious way around 2016, after the amiibo upload, but soon after I had many troubles with real life so I ended up leaving my city (wich I called Lumios) again.
Now I created a new town, Magnolia, and I am sure I am gonna make it a place I am gonna be proud about.

Even if I played it summarily during the years, New Leaf mean A LOT to me.
I went during a bad period in my life where I tought I couldn't fin myself, I was always asking who I was, and when I played videogames I always ended up thinking the characters were cool, and I wasn't enough.
But in Animal Crossing, I felt like I was just being myself: the game doesn't ask you to do out of the ordinary things, and doesn't require a cool protagonist, because it just needs you, and you can do whatever you like.
That helped me a lot. While playing it I felt happy, and I think that, togheter with my life getting better, helped a lot. Plus, when I decided to put down many games in order to spend some of my times everyday on New Leaf (like half an hour a day), I started spending less money on games without thinking (now I buy them only if I feel like I really need them, not in a rush like in the past), and to enjoy everyday life more, because I could just sit in a boring moment on my sofa, open my 2DS and play a little.
Plus, the game reminded me of my beloved countryside when my family transferred in the big city. And also, I played online with friends I knew on forums, and that was the only way we had to "meet each other", in a moment of my life when I was kind of lonely because I was really, REALLY timid and always moving from town to town because of my parents job.

 

[bleached]

I will always prefer New Leaf over New Horizons, for so so so many reasons. Don't get me wrong, New Horizons is a great game. I love the graphics and new characters. But everything just feels empty in comparison to New Leaf. My favourite special characters (Wendell, Harriet, etc.) aren't in the game, and will probably never be added due to their purposes being replaced. The villagers' personalities also feel watered down; their dialogue is repetitive and boring.
New Leaf has so much nostalgic value to me. I remember falling asleep to the night time soundtracks and spending so many hours putting down paths and decorating my house. The soundtrack in New Leaf is by far my favourite out of all the games. It's so well made and fits the feeling of the hours perfectly.
Sorry if I rambled too much, I'm just so passionate about New Leaf jsksjjsk

 

[dragonpisces69]

It's an amazing game, and you can do so much there compared to all three of the prior installments, not to mention the wide variety of villagers, and how they eventually brought some of the GCN villagers back in the Welcome Amiibo update, and until present, I still want one of those in my village sooooo badly XD
I also like the island feature and how you can play a wide variety of games there, the Re-Tail where you can indirectly recommend furniture to your villagers, the Public Works Projects that you can establish as the mayor, the fact that you can swim in a wetsuit, the fact that you can finally distinguish fake paintings and statues from genuine ones, the campsite where you can beg and plead for a certain villager to move in as long as you don't have a "full house"... I could name a ton, this game is seriously one of the most amazing games I've ever played!

 

[letisbloom]

I love this game so much, it helps me a lot during quarentine. My favorite villagers are Peanut, Merengue e Tia