What villager has grown on you?

[Cetoddle769]

For me, that would be Curt. At first I wasn’t a huge fan of his design and personality, but I’ve grown to like him. Despite his tough exterior, he’s actually kind and caring. He just chooses not to show it. Him and Julia also seem to be romantically interested in each other. I’m glad I didn’t have Curt move out over a year ago.

Now for a villager I don’t have, another one would be Kyle. At first I thought he was meh. But I’ve grown to like him over this year. So much that he’s now my favorite wolf villager. I also find it cool that he’s the only male wolf currently active in the series that isn’t a cranky. Sure, Tarou is a jock and Wolf Link is a smug, but both of them aren’t in New Horizons. Kyle also reminds me of someone. Feel free to guess who it is. Originally, I put Kyle in B tier. But now he’s one of my dreamies.

 

[QueenCobra]

Hamphrey. At first, I didn’t like the whole cranky thing, but he’s actually pretty funny. He’s also adorable and I love giving him new clothes lol.

 

[Tsukuri_Yukimura]

For me it was Lily. I was never a fan of frogs. Nothing person against Lily. But after a while she was so sweet and she really changed my opinion on the frog villagers.

 

[Serabee]

Coach was one I didn't like at first. I took him while I was on my last couple of NMTs because I needed a jock, but I was not excited to get him.

But, IDK, seeing his colorful self running around the island made me smile. I made up a story in my head that he was a retired sports coach, trying to take it easy, but he just couldn't help pumping up everyone around him because it was his calling, even in retirement. I kept him for a pretty long time and loved him while I had him. Sometimes I think about hunting him down and inviting him back.

 

[Giddy]

One would be Walt.
I actually found some old comments I made how I didn't trust or like Walt, completely forgot about that and tried him out on my Island and I love him so much now.
Like our old grandpa.

T-bone too, didn't know much about him, but he was great. He was good friends with Rudy.

 

[boring]

All of them, as it happens.

 

[airpeaches]

Definitely Tabby! When I first had her in my town as a child, her rough appearance scared me a little lol. She looked like she was beaten up However I really like her & her unique appearance now--she's so cute!

 

[TN4U]

Mine’s Patty. She’s been my starting peppy since the game came out, and I didn’t feel strongly about her at first. However, I slowly grew to accept her more, and realized that she’s actually a cuter villager than I first thought. Not to mention that she could also work as a farmer who lives in the “country” section” of my island, and this was back when growing produce became a new game feature.

Despite Dotty being my favorite female villager on my island, Patty is who I mostly associated the personality with, and is currently the longest-tenured and last remaining random villager on my island. Pretty impressive feat for a bovine to say the least.

 

[ShawnFuzz]

For me it is Canberra! I got her as a starter on my second island, and at first I thought she looked way too angry. But she was a koala, and I haven't had a koala yet. I gave her a chance and realized she is a Big Sister personality, and if I had a big sister in real life, she would probably look angry with me all the time too

She has really grown on me!

 

[Corrie]

For me it was Lily. I was never a fan of frogs. Nothing person against Lily. But after a while she was so sweet and she really changed my opinion on the frog villagers.

Me too except mine is Puddles! She was my starter villager and she just made me smile so much, now I love her to pieces!

 

[rocketspruggs]

For me it is Canberra! I got her as a starter on my second island, and at first I thought she looked way too angry. But she was a koala, and I haven't had a koala yet. I gave her a chance and realized she is a Big Sister personality, and if I had a big sister in real life, she would probably look angry with me all the time too

She has really grown on me!

I also had Canberra as my sisterly starter! I never had her before in the past, and I didn't realize how funny and adorable she is until some great moments with her happened...my jock starter, Samson, misheard her in a conversation, she said something about wanting to sing a punk song, not a hunk song.

She also said she'd be there if I needed someone to cry to...she really grew on me since then.

 

[wuppytime]

when i was a kid, i HAAATED hazel. sheerly because of the unibrow.
but now i see her in a totally different light!! she's so silly and she has a spot on my forever island!!

 

[RoseSilverpen]

The first villager that I can think of growing on me is Tad. I hated jocks for years. Even now, aside from like. 3 I find most mid at best. But then one day in 2023-2024, I started a new town in GameCube Crossing. And I had Tad as a starting villager. So I go introduce myself, and he says that if anyone gives me trouble, I should go straight to him about it. My immediate thought was "I guess we're best friends now."
[I am autistic, and I do get attached to people/characters easily.]
But especially in GameCube Crossing, where almost every villager can be seen as mean in one way or another- shout out to lazies saying "Hey [player name]... oh man, how am I gonna put this... have you gotten fatter?" and if you reply with a slightly angry "what's it to ya?" the lazy replies with "Woah woah woah! [player name] is getting angry! Watch out, rabid [player name] on the loose!". I say shout out b/c as an adult, I find it funny. If I was a kid, I probably would've cried- having one villager in town. Just one character look at this player, clearly out of their depth, a sole human in a town of animals, and thought "the others might give this human a hard time. I will be there for them." is so sweet to me.
tl;dr: Tad cared about me in a recent GameCube town, he's been my fave Jock since.

I also wanna shout out Angus. As a kid, I didn't really like crankies. And I had Angus in my town in Wild World. But he got sick, so I brought him medicine every day. [I was terrified when I missed a day that Angus wouldn't survive... since then, Wild World playthroughs have me stocking up on medicine in case Nook is renovating while a villager is sick] I still didn't really like him, though. That was until I gave him medicine during this time, and one reaction stood out. Him crying and saying he didn't deserve friends like me. I think that following Valentine's Day he sent me a hybrid rose, too. [which was double cute because the name I went by back then was Rose. not my birth name, but a name I always liked.]
Much like with Tad, it was that reaction that made me think "welp. we're friends now!"

 

[ShawnFuzz]

I also wanna shout out Angus. As a kid, I didn't really like crankies. And I had Angus in my town in Wild World. But he got sick, so I brought him medicine every day. [I was terrified when I missed a day that Angus wouldn't survive... since then, Wild World playthroughs have me stocking up on medicine in case Nook is renovating while a villager is sick] I still didn't really like him, though. That was until I gave him medicine during this time, and one reaction stood out. Him crying and saying he didn't deserve friends like me.

I am fairly new to Animal Crossing, only playing for the last two years roughly.

I like hearing all of the stories from older games, and how the villagers were actually pretty brutal! And, also more emotional! I think New Horizons has tamed everything down, because of society and sensitivity.

But I do want to say Angus is one of my favorites as well! So much so that he was my avatar on TBT here for over a year! So we may span over different games... but Angus!!

 

[RoseSilverpen]

I am fairly new to Animal Crossing, only playing for the last two years roughly.

I like hearing all of the stories from older games, and how the villagers were actually pretty brutal! And, also more emotional! I think New Horizons has tamed everything down, because of society and sensitivity.

But I do want to say Angus is one of my favorites as well! So much so that he was my avatar on TBT here for over a year! So we may span over different games... but Angus!!

oh nice! Angus may not be my top favorite cranky, but he does hold a special place in my heart.
I started with Wild World, and have been a fan since. I think I like games like Animal Crossing due to lack of human interaction irl. I don't have many irl friends [I can count 3. 1 is my younger sibling, the other 2 are identical twin brothers I talk to once a week and can't tell apart. I'm bad with faces.]
Actually, this isn't my own observation. I was talking to this guy during one of my brief attempts at college. We were both in the video game club, and I was talking to him about Stardew characters. He asked me if the reason I feel so connected to those characters is due to a lack of irl friends. I kinda went quiet, and this guy was legally blind [he was great at guitar hero and fighting games on a giant screen] so he couldn't see my facial expression. He started apologizing, and I was like, "no, I think you're right."
Anyway, I do agree that things are more tame in New Horizons compared to even New Leaf. The villagers had more personality in GameCube and Wild World. imo, City Folk is like. the weakest entry [though I've been giving it another chance due to a mod called City Folk Deluxe]. From the perspective of villager interactions vs customization/personalization, it seems the more personalization you have for your town or island, the less... "real" the the villagers feel. It's a sliding scale, in a way. Tama Hero did a great video titled "The Evolution of Villagers in Animal Crossing" looking at this very phenomena.
If I could determine one thing about the next Animal Crossing, it would be Villager Dialogue Styles. In older games, you could change how the animals sounded when they spoke [animalese is the typical babbling, bebese was beeping like when you catch a bug or fish, and silence meant there was no audio paired with the text boxes]. I want something similar implemented, but instead of audibly changing how they sound, it's determining how strong the personalities would be. You could pick from any game- GameCube, Wild World, City Folk, New Leaf, New Horizons- and whatever you chose, that would determine the style of dialogue you would get from the villagers. So say I wanted to have villagers talk to me like they did in Wild World. I'd choose that dialogue style, and the game would change how they speak to me so it was similar to Wild World. It can't be identical due to New Leaf having added the Sisterly and Smug villagers, meaning those two personalities would need new dialogue for the older styles.
From a programing aspect, I'm not sure how easy that would be to add, but from a "I'm a fan, this is my dream feature" aspect, that's what I want most- even above multiple islands/towns per system.

 

[ShawnFuzz]

If I could determine one thing about the next Animal Crossing, it would be Villager Dialogue Styles. In older games, you could change how the animals sounded when they spoke [animalese is the typical babbling, bebese was beeping like when you catch a bug or fish, and silence meant there was no audio paired with the text boxes]. I want something similar implemented, but instead of audibly changing how they sound, it's determining how strong the personalities would be. You could pick from any game- GameCube, Wild World, City Folk, New Leaf, New Horizons- and whatever you chose, that would determine the style of dialogue you would get from the villagers. So say I wanted to have villagers talk to me like they did in Wild World. I'd choose that dialogue style, and the game would change how they speak to me so it was similar to Wild World. It can't be identical due to New Leaf having added the Sisterly and Smug villagers, meaning those two personalities would need new dialogue for the older styles.
From a programing aspect, I'm not sure how easy that would be to add, but from a "I'm a fan, this is my dream feature" aspect, that's what I want most- even above multiple islands/towns per system.

I think this is a fantastic idea!! Being able to change settings for personalities from previous games is awesome! I don't know how they would do it, or if it possible... but I truly love the idea!