What's your playstyle?

[Chachamaru]

I tt weirdly. Now, I have entirely not done it for 2 or 3 weeks, but while I was doing it, I do it like.. I time travel a day ahead, then another day, and keep going until im done playing. Then, when im done playing for the day, I revert my switch time back to the normal date and time so I never get insanely far ahead. I quite literally walk into my nooklings store, see furniture I do or dont like, walk out, talk to my villagers, time travel ahead to refresh the shop invo.

As for why I do it? I like to get items QUICK. I love to design things and don't have a lot of patience in waiting for new stuff in the store everyday. That's my burden to bare but it is what it is. I'm not the type to get burnt out on games, especially a game as dear to me as animal crossing. I can always find something new to do everytime I pick it up and that will never change.

I don't, will not, have not, ever time traveled months ahead to unlock new fish, new bugs, etc. It's just not my thing and I like to stay in my season/month, respectfully. I enjoy the slow progression of collecting fossils, fish, seasonal items, and bugs. Also, now, art for the Museum. I feel like it needs to be put out there, I don't time travel to exploit the nook miles system (in fact, irdgaf about that at all), bells, turnips, shooting stars, nothing. I just really do not care about any of that and recognize 100% it destroys this games online trading community/economy.. It is inevitable, unfortunately as a lot for people are greedy and I see a lot of damage already done, but I don't actively partake.

About "dreamies" I bought amiibos for my villagers and loaded them in. Now that they are there, the only one I even care about still is dom. I reset for him for 3 days until I got him. I'm glad I have the rest of my villagers, but I also think in hindsight I would've been entirely cool with just playing the game and seeing who comes around. I was very lucky in that I got stitches as a camper, and raymond was my assigned smug camper. I didn't even want raymond, but he grew on me.

I have a 5 star town right now. It's NOWHERE near done though, I don't think it will ever be. It is a very "constantly changing/evolving" game for me and I like it that way. My house is not to my liking yet, I still have a ton of DIYS I need, to add furniture around my island, and I have to terraform some sort of lake up in my amber drop forest. Now that the new update is coming out, I will need to incorporate those bushes somehow. I just found out you can plant coconut trees on your grass by putting a little sand down, and that changes a lot too.

 

[Braixen]

Fun question

I think my play style's a mix? For the most part I think it's "natural", I almost never time travel and the only time I have thus far was to keep a villager in boxes for an extra day so a friend could have them and also to move one of my villagers out as my friend had a dreamie they were gonna give me (and I wanted to make room straight away lol). I do have a dreamie list, but for now I just want random villagers that I like! (save for 3 that are permanent) There are a ton of villagers that I love, but alas, we can only have 10. I usually just go island hopping until I find one I like then invite them to enjoy them for a bit, then when they want to move I'll let them go! Eventually I'll settle with my 10, but for now I want to explore some more. (I mean there's 400 villagers, why not cycle through a couple of them?) It'll also prevent me from getting tired of my dreamies, which sorta happened to me in NL unfortunately!

As for buying and trading and such, I don't really do so online. The only exception is turnips, but other than that I like to do things and collect things myself! Either that or exchange with a friend, like extra DIY recipes we have.

 

[Miqo]

I just simply prefer to play with TT. I just get impatient.

 

[spaceapple]

I don’t time travel, I like to let things unfold naturally. That said, I do have a set list of dreamies for this game and have been trading to obtain them. I also bought amiibo cards for the first time! I’m very meticulous about what I want, and I really like the security of being able to move in and kick out whoever you like. So far I’ve traded for or have cards waiting for all of my dreamies except Audie, so I’m quite pleased with myself. The only items to plan to trade for are colors of the nook miles items I like that aren’t available to me (I’m looking at you, black streetlamps), fruit, and flowers. I’m obsessed with planning and planned the developed parts of my island right down to the square. I’m not sure how I feel about the bushes and possible buildings in the update because I didn’t allocate any space for them!

My daily routine, thanks to quarantine, is: play from about 8:30-9:30 while I eat breakfast. I spend this time checking out the nook stop, nook’s cranny, and able sisters’, and gathering seashells. I play again around 4:00-5:30; this is when I traverse the whole island collecting fruit, shaking trees, and hitting rocks. Then around 8:00-10:00 I finish up anything I didn’t get done earlier and do whatever fun things I want, like terraforming.

 

[meggiewes]

I am very much a collector at heart. I like getting color variations of my favorite items in the game and unlocking them in my catalog. This means that I am very much the person my friends go to if they are looking for something strange because I might have found it and bought it just to have it in my catalog.

I like playing day-by-day. I dislike time traveling right now, but I could see doing it in the future once I get my full-time career going and have limited time to play. I would be one of the people that would only go back to play missed days and not time travel to the future if I did end up doing so. I like the challenge of just playing in the natural time even if that does mean I end up not playing during an event and missing it. Though that seems to be less of a problem in New Horizons so far.

I like playing with people I know and I only have one person I don't know personally on my switch friends list. The rest of the people that I open my gates to know me in person. Even though I love collecting, I'm not too big in the trading scene. I do like getting people amiibo posters though. Especially since I have a good deal of amiibos that other people might not have access to. I really only trade with my friends.

I also really like gardening and getting hybrid flowers myself. I've never bred a blue rose myself and I really want to!

 

[smudgedhorizon]

I’m just boring I think! I never had any friends or family who played previous games, so I have never played socially with anyone before. I am strictly no time travel so my island feels really far behind other people’s I see photos of (despite me spending almost 300 hours playing so far!) I’ve been too scared to do any trades online because of all the glitches etc, I’ve only given away duplicate recipes for free to a couple of people I know from twitter who also have the game.

I’ve focused so far on organising animal houses & my structural trees around the buildings. My island is very natural. I still haven’t decided what to do with some of the higher levels but I’m hoping when I unlock more recipes something will stand out. The inside of my house is embarrassingly empty still! I seem to never get decent recipes.

 

[Kuidaore]

This is a great topic!

I have a slow playstyle but I'm more active when events roll around. I started playing a few days after cherry blossoms started so I had a last minute grind collecting the CB DIYs...apart from that I'll check in a few times a day to see what's in the shops/terminal, talk to villagers and do daily "chores" (fossils/trees).

I know a few IRL friends who play, and we occasionally trade items / catalogues / send each other stuff that the person would like or open our islands for shopping. I think we all play at a similar pace, so it's pretty relaxed.

I haven't TTed and I don't feel a need to do it; for now I'm content to let things happen in real time even if I did mis-align one villager's house, so I have some fixing to do once I have enough bells :<

Dreamies - I don't have a set list yet, aside from Merengue and tbh I'll probably end up using amiibos. Raymond is adorable too and I'd like to have him on my island, but not enough to pay the asking prices I've been seeing. So I'll probably just try my luck with mystery island tours once a villager I'm not as close with moves out, and if I can't get him that's fine as well. Since there are cheap alternatives on Etsy compared to the actual cards, I don't mind paying for fanmade cards to have a few guaranteed villagers. I'm used to mtx from mobile games and lootboxes anyway lol. Plus, I could share them with friends!

 

[Marte]

Mine is really similar to yours, Mairen. Only difference is I got one friend I sometimes trade with and mail gifts to. Besides that I play day by day and just enjoy everything (maybe too much, I got so many hours clocked in by just wandering around glancing at the scenery and design this game got, lol)

 

[Moon Cake]

I have time travelled maybe 3 times previously but I never went forward more than a day before time traveling back. In those instances when I time travelled, it was always because I wanted to get items in the mail sooner to trade or if I just got impatient and wanted buildings to be moved so I could finish off my island.

Apart from that, I play day-by-day. I may time travel in the future if I find I reason to but I have been enjoying logging on for a an hour or two a day and finishing my daily tasks. I have definitely spent a lot of time on this game over the last few weeks (over 200 hours) and while I adore this game, I do want to make sure that I am not spending all my time on it as I have other commitments that need to take a higher priority.

As for villagers, my list is always changing except for some villagers that are permanent residents such as my first two villagers (Mira and Biff) and Merry and Zucker. I do have an open plot and some Nook Miles Tickets as well as some amiibo cards coming in soon so I will likely be shuffling my villagers around for a while.

I have been trading online a lot for furniture and DIY recipes that I needed to complete my island but now that I've reached 5 stars, I'm definitely going to ease off of the trading and just enjoy my time on my island.

I am definitely quite a completionist so I used guides last month to get all the March insects and fish before they disappeared for the year. I haven't been checking guides as frequently for April as I don't believe there are any bugs or fish leaving in April that I didn't already donate to the museum.

By the way Mairen, thanks for always promoting such thoughtful discussions!

 

[Jas]

i don't time travel because i'm not in a huge rush to complete anything - i have had a lot of time during the quarantine, so i enjoy playing day by day (i think personally, playing too much at once burns me out and if i time travelled, i know i would spend WAY too much time on it).

i definitely play with my irl friends and online quite a bit - i like to visit other islands to get DIY recipes and sell turnips sometimes, and i give away/trade/sell a lot of my spare recipes, furniture/clothing, and fruits. i don't do the whole repetitive cycle of waiting in queues to visit islands and buying and selling turnips over and over, but i have defffiinitely considered it as i'm about to start moving all my buildings. i use guides at the start and near the end of each month to make sure i've caught all the bugs and fish available in that month!

as for dreamies, i definitely have "favourite" villagers (in my signature)! but i'm not actively trying to get them. i'd like to come across some of them at some point for sure, but i will just invite whoever i think is cute back from the island!

 

[Tileve]

I am not time travelling... yet. I did it in previous games and I liked it. I will not do it the first year so since everything is new and "fresh", but after a while I will probably TT.

I don't have a dreamie list because there's too many villagers that I want! I am letting them go when they want to elave even if I like them a lot, just because I want to see new villagers and it's changing my game each time a little bit. And I love the concept of the islands. I cna invite a villager that I want, but there's still a touch of hasard as I don't control who I'll find. I decide myself after maybe 5 to 10 islands.

I play with friends and my family a lot. I like to catalogue items, and trade DIY's. But I also love to share and help others. I am not asking money or tips. My goal isn't to get super rich and pay everything off easily.

I like to enjoy my house small for a while. I usually try to upgrade my HHA score before paying off my debt and adding a new room! I change my house pretty much every weeks and on Saturday I "prep" it for my HHA evaluation.

And I am fine with not having the "best" island or every items, as long as I have fun! I didn't get a lot of cherry blossom DIY but I won't pay huge amount of money or try some gimmick to obtain them all. Basically, I take what comes to me I guess?

 

[biksoka]

I'm the type of person who gets bored when something is too perfect and can't commit ever, so no list of dreamies for me. I have a tentative one (i.e. I would love to get Coco and Clay at some point) but eventually I'd let them go at some point just to cycle through the other villagers.

I don't time travel mostly because I did it for New Leaf when I restarted my town and got bored of the game REALLY quickly. IRL friends don't play and I'm too awkward to let people in just to hang out (seriously how do ppl type and communicate and all that) but I do try to trade pretty often and also let ppl in whenever there's a DIY recipe or Celeste in town

 

[Pixiebelle]

I prefer to progress and unlock stuff naturally so currently don't TT but when it comes to my dreamies I'd definitely consider it. I don't get why it's such a big deal tbh, people should be able to play however they like

 

[violixir]

I don’t TT, but I do trade! Sometimes with the community, but usually within my friend group (and never villagers, though it’s too early to tell when getting a villager to move out takes so long without TT). I don’t have dreamies, really, but I do have some ideal villagers. Mostly I want to see some new villagers! Only one villager in my town (Coco) has been with me since New Leaf, and it’s fun to see new faces for the rest.

 

[michan]

I usually time travel when I want to get things done faster, such as building bridges/inclines or moving buildings. But once I time travelled to get a villager out. I really did not like Walt lol his house had a nice interior but I hated his look and his cranky/jock personality.

 

[Everdeen]

I have no set routine but every day first thing I go look for my message in a bottle, find where Fang is and say good morning and talk to him. I'm a time traveler, nothing too extreme mostly just to get items I'm missing from seasonal items or if I have a trade going on. I like to trade with other players to get rid of the things I do not need or if I want something. I like knowing that something I have is useful to someone else

I don't care about how much someone is willing to offer me for a trade as long as it sounds fair and reasonable. I've adopted only one villager so far and I don't mind inviting whoever is there on a mystery island to come live with me because I want their poster plus I'm not going to discriminate against them. If I don't find my dreamies on my own thats okay. I have an ideal for my island in terms of residents but its only 3 that I'd absolutely LOVE and adore to have permanently. The rest I'm fine cycling out and what not until I figure out my ideal dream team.

I use guides to make sure I get everything because its really annoying for me to find out I missed something that was in season and I have to wait a WHOLE year to find again. I don't terraform very much yet but thats because Im worried I'll ruin the way my island feels and flows so.. one goal at a time. I'll visit other players downs for DIYs and stuff, I like having as many items cataloged as possible incase I come across someone who needs/wants it.

 

[Mayor-of-Bliss]

I guess I'd say I'm just chaotic about it.

I do time travel but mainly for villagers. Moving them in and out. I've had enough of the villagers from previous games that I keep villagers I like. My only dreamy right now is just a half decent looking smug.

I play solo unless it's with my sister. She doesnt count because shes pretty young and plays super casual. I do not trade online. I did with my trial to get fruit and flowers. But its probably going to take two days to get the new update for me.

I do not use seasonal guides I like being suprised.
I kind of have two modes right now. Landscaping and getting villagers or just fishing and talking to villagers. I used to run errands all the time.

I do not care about catalogs. I do work on my museum but as it come up. This game I've been pretty into flower breeding but mainly to get it out of the way.

I just try to do what I feel like at the time.

 

[ScaryGhosts]

I tt but i mostly play day by day, meaning I „complete” the day before travelling to the next one. Sometimes this takes nearly an entire real-life day, sometimes it takes a little over an hour, but I do maintenence (weeds, fossils, etc.) talk to all of my villagers, check am and pm turnip prices, check shop inventories and the daily kk song, see if wisp of celeste show up at night, then move on unless im working on landscaping or something.

When it comes to villagers, i ususally have the ones I want in mind but rarely actually obtain them because I’ll see someone else and decide it’s fate. I’ve grown incredibly attached to stitches and pashmina and i picked them both up while looking for someone else haha.

I play with friends sometimes, we get together every couple of days and just hang out on someone’s island but I mostly play alone. I trade a lot to obtain certain items i want more immediatly for something I am working on, but other than that I try to acquire most things on my own. I check guides for fish and bugs as well as some other things as they come up. I also keep a notebook that details nearly every aspect of everything ive mentioned above, lol.

 

[marieheiwa]

I've really enjoyed reading everyone's different playstyles in this thread. I share an island with my fiance and that is a huge part of my playstyle, we will craft things for each other, etc. Our styles differ in that he's very focused on getting lots of money and does the tarantula island thing whereas...I prefer fishing a lot, and decorating the island.

I used to want to play totally naturally when it came to amiibo but my fiance got my favourite villager Biskit as a present so I got him to pick another villager too (Ankha), then we looked through our old cards and found one of his favourites Leonardo! Then later on we had problems finding a peppy so we made a list and chose one together (Carmen). So now almost half our villagers are amiibo haha. Funnily enough our rarest one, Marshal, isn't.

No timetravelling for me although I have nothing against it. If my island became glitched or something and we could rectify it with a bit of TTing I would reluctantly do it. In NL I used to take AC so seriously, doing campsite resets, beetle hunting, villager selling...I ended up with millions of bells and just feeling really burnt out with the game. We are both just trying to play it chilled and not rush anything too much.

I've only played with one friend so far, another close friend bought Animal Crossing but her health issues are stopping her from playing. We look out for set items that the other one wants (I want log, she wants cute!) and she found me the colour of a lighthouse I wanted, while I got her a snack machine of the colour she wanted, but beside that I don't trade too much. It makes it more fun when I find what I want!

 

[driftwoodisle]

I'm similar to a natural playstyle but I like doing trades online and amongst my friends who have NH. I don't like to TT, it makes me lose interest very quickly because I can basically just consume the entire game in as little time as I want and that doesn't work for me. I have a list of dreamies I want that i'd be happy to cycle through, I don't plan on keeping one set of 10 forever. I focus on decorating and redecorating a lot, and once my island is done i'll probably knock some areas down and rebuild them. I also know I'll probably stop playing after the year is over (or before then, I lose interest in games very quickly. NH is actually close to setting a record lol) so I'm trying to catch all the fish and bugs of the month so I don't have to wait another year.