What's up with "talking too much"?

[Verecund]

I find it pretty discouraging to talk to NH villagers twice only for them to get all passive-aggressive towards me for not leaving me alone. If I talk to someone five or six times, then sure, that might be more reasonable, but I quickly got sick of Diva throwing her array of snarky comments at me if I had the audacity to talk to her twice in one day, even if those two conversations were spaced twelve hours apart.

I'm also one of those people who prefers the dialogue from older games and liked the "meaner" villagers, so this may seem like a weird stance to have, but let me clarify: I like villagers being rude if it makes sense and if it's part of their personality, but not when it would be out of place. I'd rather have interesting dialogue that reflects their personality than having every villager be rude (e.g., snooties and crankies should be cold to start off with and warm up over time, while normals and lazies should be much friendlier). I think GC villagers go a little overboard on the harshness but my favourite villager dialogue would be from WW/CF (not counting CF's terrible dialogue trees; just looking at the actual writing).

However, for NH, having the passive-aggressive lines seems jarring and out of place because all of the other dialogue from every personality is super sweet and supportive. The only lines I can remember encountering from anyone in NH that were even slightly rude (that were aimed at the player - not counting conversations between villagers) were the lines telling me I'm talking to them too much. Having uchi villagers say "is this island not big enough for the both of us?" when everything they say afterwards makes them seem like they're happy to see you is just weird.

Honestly, I think it's too harsh in GC how snooties tell me I talk too much after trying to talk to them two or three times, but at least it makes more sense because GC snooties are brutal, and since they look down on you, they probably don't want to talk to you a lot. Despite being more direct and mean (and maybe a bit too far), I still like it better than having an NH snooty, who thinks of me as a great friend and is super nice to me all the time, telling me "oh, you again? You've talked to me a lot today", because it doesn't align with the rest of their dialogue towards me.

On top of that, I find the NH dialogue incredibly bland, so it's not like I enjoy talking to my villagers a bunch anyway, as opposed to previous games; getting told I've talked with them too much definitely does not help with that.

I still think that some of the lines can be funny — as in, lighthearted teasing and such. I do think it goes way overboard, though, and it's excessive to the point that it seems as if everyone only remembers this part of the game's dialogue because that's all every seems to focus on whenever the topic on the series' writing quality is brought up. I wouldn't mind villagers being unbearable, snarky little ******** if they were limited to just the two personalities where it's actually applicable rather than the entire town having an abundant of moments of this jerkish attitude that juxtaposes the laid-back nature of life sims like AC. And after a while, and after spending a lot time with these NPCs, they should knock that **** off. No point in interacting with these characters if they aren't going to go the extra mile and have dialogue that reflects that they're gradually starting to like you, which, let's be honest, this series was NEVER good at conveying. Period.

Exactly this. I like the lighthearted teasing and even the insults that are a little mean but are also meant to be funny so that you're more likely to laugh at it instead of being hurt by it; I remember a lot of this from WW snooties in particular. And yeah, even though I think there was a change in WW villagers' attitudes towards you over time, I think they could have made it a bit more prominent, because to me it was only noticeable via the absence of certain lines; I think they had a pretty good starting point for the level of sass though. I definitely agree that the vast majority of the unprovoked rudeness should be limited to the snooties and crankies.

 

[Introspective Onlooker]

I'm also one of those people who prefers the dialogue from older games and liked the "meaner" villagers, so this may seem like a weird stance to have, but let me clarify: I like villagers being rude if it makes sense and if it's part of their personality, but not when it would be out of place. I'd rather have interesting dialogue that reflects their personality than having every villager be rude (e.g., snooties and crankies should be cold to start off with and warm up over time, while normals and lazies should be much friendlier). I think GC villagers go a little overboard on the harshness but my favourite villager dialogue would be from WW/CF (not counting CF's terrible dialogue trees; just looking at the actual writing).

It really shouldn't though, because that would be a more nuanced, balanced take on how villagers treat you, instead of said attitude permeating across every personality type. Normals were still very much sweet and kind in PG!, but it was annoying having to be told: "I know getting up at six to participate in the Morning Aerobics is a lot for a lazybones like yourself..." — lines like this were OOC for Normal villagers, and honestly just dumb. What does not waking up at the crack of dawn have to do with being lazy? Jocks had their moments, such as them getting angry at you just for being stung by bees wasps. Peppies were almost as bad as Snooties and they barely stayed true to their personality type, and they weren't much better in the next game after the GC era.

I like the lighthearted teasing and even the insults that are a little mean but are also meant to be funny so that you're more likely to laugh at it instead of being hurt by it; I remember a lot of this from WW snooties in particular.

WW Snooty villagers were a noticeable improvement over the ones from the previous game, but they were written to sound more like Peppies than the snobs they were still characterized as because of the dialect that was written for them. CF somewhat rectified this by having them speak in a manner more reminiscent of the ones from the NA GC port while still being nicer than they've ever been up to that point. It makes them my favorite iteration because of this. CF still has legitimately poor writing from Peppies and Jocks, though its dialogue system is easily the series' worst by far.

I don't think that crap from the older games offended me that much, but it's always important to remember that it's okay to feel a certain way towards what a character says to you, even if it is just a game. I know some people here definitely were hurt by some of the dialogue that was meant to be comedic. I do remember getting irritated a lot by it, myself, due to the regularity of it.

And yeah, even though I think there was a change in WW villagers' attitudes towards you over time, I think they could have made it a bit more prominent, because to me it was only noticeable via the absence of certain lines; I think they had a pretty good starting point for the level of sass though. I definitely agree that the vast majority of the unprovoked rudeness should be limited to the snooties and crankies.

Sure, they gave you their picture if they liked you well enough and there are a few lines that are concordant with this. They could even have a positive or negative reaction to you waving at them. However, those few lines I mentioned are mixed in with the same lines they mostly used to insult you with. And greetings such as, "So what do you want to bug about this time?" or "What the HECK do you want?" are still very much present in both Snooties and Crankies respectively, so is it really a change if they still talk to you as if all the time you spent bonding with them never happened? It's especially bad with Peppies, because it just seems they only pretend to be friendly, rather than actually wanting to be your friend. I can't tell you how annoying it was for them to wear one of my characters' designs, then tell said PC how bad they are. Meanwhile, I start the game as another player character and and they go: "Check out this design by [insert name here]! Isn't it great?!" How can I think this is funny when it doesn't even match up at all to what these characters are described as? And this is something only Peppies do. I know I tend go on about this, but if anyone wonders why I can't stand Peppies... well, it's because they're so inconsistently written in each of these damn games. I swear New Leaf is the ONE game where they're in-character, yet it doesn't take up the annoying verbal ticks they have up to 11 (as is the case with CF, and maybe NH).

It's a good starting point, but inexplicable crass from villagers new to your town/island wouldn't have made sense in the context that you're the mayor/island representative who might be responsible for said villagers living in it in the first place. It annoys me when people don't realize that you aren't some random villager anymore, meandering around a town. You're in charge; authority is a huge deal in Japan and the newer games were localized to be a bit more faithful to the Japanese script. Ergo, it wouldn't make sense for Snooties (to give an example) to look down on you in NL or NH because you're of a higher status. People need to stop acting as if rudeness translates into good writing, and kindness = bland. No, BOTH of them can be good, or uninteresting; they just need to make sense within the context of the game and characters, and it's a shame not many people have a take similar to this because this discussion would be really productive and easier to get engaged in if people offered something more than, "BRING BACK VERBALLY ABUSIVE VILLAGERS". That's a problem, because people just assume that making villagers rude again will somehow "fix" this gimmicky, awkwardly programmed dialogue system/writing, when it has far larger issues than how villagers are characterized, and it's why I want this system to finally evolve into something more than a few interactions plastered on the screen. This thread is proof of this.

 

[-Mars-]

Erm this thread is getting de-railed fast...
Yes I think it's pretty dumb how they aren't able to understand I'm only talking to them for the second time of the day and complain about talking to them a lot
but like someone else already said the response is random and it really depends on the personality
Normal and Snooty villagers say they appreciate me spending lots of time with them
for me it's Lazys and Sisterlys that say it rudely
All the others it's random if they say a nice or rude response to me about being talked to too much

 

[KittenNoir]

I get what you mean I am always running around trying to fix my island and when I do have time to stop and talk with my islanders and give them gifts I also get the responses like oh you again did you forget something last time?

It makes me sad I am like oh ok I just wanted to talk and see how you were doing

I feel this way especially when its a islander that I really like...

 

[yuckyrat]

Hoooo boy, didn't expect what happened here. Glad other people share my feelings, at least, but this is getting pretty out of hand.