What will you do differently in the next Animal Crossing game?

[zissou]

The next Animal Crossing game is certainly years away, considering the eight year (!) gap in between New Leaf and New Horizons, but I’ve been reminiscing about my early 2020 excitement for New Horizons.

Pre-release, I absolutely gorged myself on any NH content I could find, including Japanese playthroughs. Post-release, I was all over Reddit and Tumblr looking at everyone’s progress and designs. My brain wanted those rushes of AC-flavored serotonin, but unfortunately, as a result, I barely got to discover anything for myself. I always knew what was coming, even in terms of villager dialogue or little furniture details. Even when 2.0 dropped, I saw most of the HHP “plot line” on Reddit, rather than experiencing it on my own.

So much of the original joy of Animal Crossing — for me, as a kid playing Wild World — was in my self-discovery, through the trial and error of figuring out how fishing or fruits or holidays worked.

For the next AC game, as difficult as it will be, I’m going to try to stay away from Internet spoilers and explore the game on my own. (Also, this will prevent me from constantly seeing gorgeous layouts on Reddit and running to tear down + rebuild my island. ) I'd also like to keep a consistent Island Journal on TBT so I can reminisce about my early experiences with the game!

I'm curious as to what y'all think, as I can think of other things to potentially do differently, like changing up your play-style, not time traveling, time traveling, earning bells a different way, choosing villagers differently, etc.

What will you do differently in the next Animal Crossing game, if anything?

 

[Xara]

for the most part, i’m content with what i’ve done with new horizons. pre-release, i did my best to avoid major spoilers, sneak peeks, early-access playthroughs etc. i did indulge in rumours and tiny detail reveals (ex. new villagers), but nothing that involved gameplay. i wanted to experience all of that, and discover as much as i could, on my own. post-release, i continued avoiding spoilers as much as possible. it was hard with everyone talking about it and some people not using spoiler alerts in their excitement, but i managed. i only ‘spoiled’ myself if i wanted to make sure i was doing things right, or if i was confused about something. i even avoided the forums for that first week or so, since it was spoiler palooza haha.

i don’t have many regrets about how i’ve played. i set ‘expectations’ for myself prior to release, and i’ve met them (for the most part). i’ve kept time-travelling to a minimum, only doing it to catch up to present time after taking a hiatus, or if i wanted to move a villager out quickly and go island hopping. i didn’t earn everything i had prior to 2.0 myself, but i’m fine with that. i’ve made it a goal to earn most things myself post-2.0, and i’ve done well.

it’s a contrast to how i played new leaf, which is what i was hoping for. with new leaf, i time-travelled constantly and spoiled all of the events and major gameplay plots for myself within a month. i also watched a bunch of japanese playthroughs prior to the NA release, so there was very little i discovered for myself. it didn’t prevent me from enjoying the game for years, but i still didn’t want to play new horizons like that. i wanted to play ‘normally’ (for lack of a better word), at a slower pace. i think i’ve achieved that.

the only thing i can think of that i want to do differently in the next ac game is, i want to plan out my town more carefully, and actually focus more on decorating and landscaping. i knew what i wanted my island name, native fruit and dreamies to be, and i had some general ideas for interiors, areas on my island, landscaping and terraforming, but i didn’t act on any of them or even take them into consideration once i had my island and could start doing things with it. figuring out my interior designs has been relatively easy, but i’ve made a mess of my island. it’s overrun with flowers, there’s a bunch of abandoned ideas all over the place, my rs is too close to the airport etc.

in the next game, i want to be more careful. take the time to plan things out more thoroughly, and actually take those ideas into consideration when placing buildings, choosing my layout etc. i’ll also check in with myself to make sure i actually like the ideas i’ve come up with, so that i don’t start doing things and collecting things for them, only to change my mind. that’s how my island became overrun with flowers, and i... have many regrets lol.

 

[nightglow]

It is unlikely I will play the next AC game due to not liking how Nintendo has been handling hardware and software. We will see. But in the case that I will do so, I will be waiting for all updates/patches to be released for the game before playing the game and at that point, I'd probably just go for a used copy. Also, I'll look more into things that are good to know when starting a new file (like stuff you can't change or things that determine other things). I won't be time traveling. I will take my sweet time playing the game. I will not restart a file. I plan on picking a general name for the town/facilities. If terraforming is a thing again, I plan on keeping it simple or little changed. If flowers are the same, I'd be more careful handling them so they don't spread and to keep track of genes.

 

[Croconaw]

I’m honestly content with the way I’ve played New Horizons. The only thing I wish was different was me not having WiFi for most of my time playing the game. I was restricted big time in what I could do. The game seemed not only unplayable but in enjoyable without online access. It definitely felt like I didn’t get my money’s worth with this game. Keep in mind I didn’t even get the Dream Suite update due to lack of WiFi at the time. I was playing the game as it was released to the public, with zero updates.

 

[FrostyAlmonds]

If terraforming/customization of some nature is back, I will read up on exactly what can and can't be changed before picking my map. I like to go into games I'm anticipating as blind as possible, so I usually won't even watch trailers beyond the first 1-3 and won't participate in any discourse about the game/see people's detailed reactions/etc. I had went into this game knowing terraforming was a thing and you can move buildings at will so I didn't obsess about my map at all. Never considered for a second that the beaches, river mouths, airport, and RS building were off limits. Couldn't bear to restart when I learned but I know to research extensively for next game.

 

[Jhine7]

In the next Animal Crossing game, I may time-travel right from the start. Gasp I know, but I have a good reason. Every AC game I've ever played I told myself I would not time-travel and would finish my museum as long as it takes me day to day. And every single time I have never achieved a 100% complete museum. If I time-travel, at least I get to see what a complete museum looks like since I know I never really play AC for a full year that's needed to complete this task.

 

[Millysaurusrexjr]

Definitely gonna try hold off on time travelling for much longer.

When I first played NL, I didn't time travel for like half a year! Until my husband got the game, time travelled the very first day, and I was like, well fine I guess I'll do it too.

When NH came out, I only lasted about a month until I began to time travel.
Time travelling is very convenient and useful but it shortens the game's lifespan, for me anyway.

 

[Romaki]

I'll definitely think very hard about my map layout.

 

[Captain Jigglypuff]

Definitely not listen to Isabelle when she tells you to plant some flowers. My first three islands became overrun by flowers within three months. I kept digging them up and throwing them away but the kept coming back in even more numbers. An entire day’s work would be undone the next day.

 

[PoppyPumpkin]

I would stop rushing.
I rushed a lot in my original town because I wanted to be able to help my friends and because I played with people on WoW who kind of twisted my mentality on gaming for a bit. I'm re-learning how to slow down and just enjoy games because...they are games now. So I think next AC game, I'll just take it super slow.
As for everything else, I guess that would depend on what new features they add honestly

 

[McRibbie]

I managed to give up time-travelling (nasty habit, primarily because it causes the devs to go "how can we nerf the real-time clock aspect so people don't do this?") and focus more on my donations to the museum for NH, so for Untitled Future AC Game I'm probably going to try and pay my mortgage off slower. I feel as if I've been rushing to do that in both NL and NH, and as a result I feel like I'm burning myself out trying to do everything that's there at once, even without time travelling.

Relax. Enjoy what's there without going "I NEED TO DO THIS BY X TIME". Live the Slow Life(TM)

 

[Clock]

• Pick a better island and player name
• Plan my layout
• Don't rush too much
• Flatten everything first and don't overdecorate
• Look at ideas first before doing everything
• Put all plots in the beach or somewhere barren
• Don't go ham with the flowers

 

[Snek]

* Start slower and try to get my dreamies as I go
* No rushing to complete the inventory
* Try to do turnips as little as possible.
* DO NOT Time Travel at all. (It wasn't possible for me in NL and NH so hopefully the next game will be kinder about time-based events)
* If terraforming returns, get a good idea what to plan before I decide on a layout

 

[AuroraFox]

Definitely will hold off on buying it until I see how Nintendo handles it and what will be added to the game. I was so excited that a new animal crossing game was coming out that I didn't think twice and preordered it thinking it would be similar to new leaf not knowing that Nintendo was going to release what I feel like was an unfinished game. I do like New Horizons and love that they added terraforming and the updates did provide most of what I wanted, but it still feels like something is missing since they didn't at the very least add mini games. If I get the next game, I will take my time and make sure to choose a map that I like. My main island I started at release and didn't know that there were different airport colors. Next time, I will research what can be changed and what can't before choosing a map. I feel like I rushed through with my main island so I will try to not rush and start slow with the next game.

 

[VanitasFan26]

I will try to learn about what the next AC game has to offer and I will try to not abuse time traveling (Up until I see everything the game has to offer if its lifespan is better).

 

[Mr_Keroppi]

Hmm... this is a good thing to think about! I think that I played ACNH just how I wanted to, in HONESTY I believe that it was mostly the games fault buuuuuuuuut some of mine that had me stop playing for a little bit last year. I think what I did was overestimate the game. I saw that each game was such a big LEAP and since my first AC games ACNL, I guessed New Horizons would have a BIG LEAP as well. I was so excited to figure out everything that wasn't in the trailer when... most of the things that werent in the direct or trailers were just furniture items. I wanted to find new stores so I CONSISTENTLY went in to every store, everyday and bought literally everything. I never did time travel but I had so many bells because I was actively buying and selling and trying to pay off my loan but then there was the big problem. There were not as many upgrades for your house! It ended up being bigger loans for smaller areas but in the end costing 2 MILLION bells less to fully upgrade. There is literally one upgrade for the Nookling store... I really enjoyed the beginning of ACNH and the progress and fun Island life but I started missing my charming old little village so I think its that I overestimating STRONGLY of what ACNH would be. The 2.0 did fix the house money problem with the new storage costing LOTS of bells but the sad thing is.... I ALREADY HAVE MILLIONS NOW. I love the game and dont want to turn this into another rant but I thought ACNH would be another AC sequel, where it did in fact have tons of new things it just...... was much more like a soft reboot.

TL;DR: I do think I will play the next AC game the same as the last just... with much lower expectations.

 

[JKDOS]

I managed to give up time-travelling (nasty habit, primarily because it causes the devs to go "how can we nerf the real-time clock aspect so people don't do this?")

I'm still salty they nerfed the bank interest rates down making 99,999 interest become 9,999 because people were time traveling to get rich. Getting paid 9,999 after 30 IRL days is nonsensical because money rocks offer 16,000 per day, and money trees net 20,000 per day.

 

[QueenCobra]

Buy less flowers. Seriously-- since I'm new to the series I planted a bunch of flowers around the island without thinking they'd multiply so dramatically, but here we are lol. It's pretty to have a lot of flowers, but it's starting to get out of hand.

 

[ShinyDungeoneer]

I would probably buy less flowers because every island I've had was deleted due to flower oversaturation.

 

[liliyoa]

I always say I will not delete my first town. I always delete my first town and keep my second one. I will probably do it again lmao

Post automatically merged: Nov 10, 2023

Hmm... this is a good thing to think about! I think that I played ACNH just how I wanted to, in HONESTY I believe that it was mostly the games fault buuuuuuuuut some of mine that had me stop playing for a little bit last year. I think what I did was overestimate the game. I saw that each game was such a big LEAP and since my first AC games ACNL, I guessed New Horizons would have a BIG LEAP as well. I was so excited to figure out everything that wasn't in the trailer when... most of the things that werent in the direct or trailers were just furniture items. I wanted to find new stores so I CONSISTENTLY went in to every store, everyday and bought literally everything. I never did time travel but I had so many bells because I was actively buying and selling and trying to pay off my loan but then there was the big problem. There were not as many upgrades for your house! It ended up being bigger loans for smaller areas but in the end costing 2 MILLION bells less to fully upgrade. There is literally one upgrade for the Nookling store... I really enjoyed the beginning of ACNH and the progress and fun Island life but I started missing my charming old little village so I think its that I overestimating STRONGLY of what ACNH would be. The 2.0 did fix the house money problem with the new storage costing LOTS of bells but the sad thing is.... I ALREADY HAVE MILLIONS NOW. I love the game and dont want to turn this into another rant but I thought ACNH would be another AC sequel, where it did in fact have tons of new things it just...... was much more like a soft reboot.

TL;DR: I do think I will play the next AC game the same as the last just... with much lower expectations.

You make such a good point that's why ACNH always felt so weird to me-- it's more of a reboot than a sequel.