Would you play/decorate if there was no terraforming?

[CylieDanny]

So lemme go into a bit more detail first-

So as most of us know Terriforming or island designer, allows us to change up our island, take down cliffs, make rivers, create castles you name it.

So on my main island I used it alot, mainly to create ponds, or areas in the shape of various fandoms. Since that island is what I call *A fandom mess* i used that tool to a tease, and I love how it looks. Its currently my dream island, I love everything about it. The last time I visited was just to stalk Sasha until he pulled out his phone.

So my side island. Gei Neko. It sticks to its name for the most part, but for the first half I was just begging for the terrifoarming, and really wanted change it all. Because I had a vision. But I kinda just had to slow down my plans, and before I know it Im decorating it, and in my opinion its really coming together.

I've kinda gathered a group of ten, three *defently cats* two I have on my main, but it still sticks to his name. Even some I may not have tried before. But I love all ten of them regardless. But idk if I'm gonna terriform my island. I mean the only thing I really want is a cat shaped pond. But this is like a restart for me, but also a flash back to Rainbow. Which I never unlocked terriforming and mostly just enjoyed messing with my villagers in a good way. But everything was made by me, never changed it anyway. But kinda like Rainbow, Im enjoying playing on Gei Neko more. I truly believe its because I cant change the layout. I enjoy decorating it more for that reason alone.

But started to wonder what islands would look like it you couldn't terriform. Some people rush in to get it. Would you still be interested in decorating it? Would you enjoy working with what you had? What're your true opinions on terrifoarming.

 

[MiniPocketWorld]

If no terraforming, I would be immensely picky at picking out my map at the beginning.
I think I would enjoy the game about the same beyond that. There's still a lot of freedom in NH.
I do think people would think twice about deleting thier island if there was no terraforming.
On another note I have noticed on YouTube that a lot of the people starting over have a no terraforming rule in place now.

 

[Flicky]

Absolutely! The terraforming in this game at points ruined my fun. It's not that it's bad, but very time consuming with no real reason for it other than trying to get you to stretch out the amount of time you spend on it. HHP was a great example of how terraforming could have been handled - after a certain amount of achievements are unlocked (or even HHP itself), allow the player to see the island from a top down state and build as is. If they still want the realism of actually building it, then have it be a Tom Nook job, and he'll craft your 'idea' in the morning.

But yeah, I much prefer decorating over terraforming, so removing the latter wouldn't affect the fun I had with it. Might have improved it, even, because I wouldn't have had to sit through so many 'you can't do this' messages.

 

[NicksFixed]

Well people had been playing AC for 19 years without terraforming, I don't think the lack of it would have stopped us playing New Horizons ...

The problem with terraforming, in my opinion, is that it shifted players' focus. Instead of the focus being about improving your island in order to have K.K Slider come and play, it became about unlocking terraforming. And once people unlocked it, they felt compelled to use it. I've seen so many people ask things like "I just unlocked terraforming so now what do I do? Should I make waterfalls? Should I fill in my ponds? Change my rivers? Flatten my island?" I'm like, if you don't know what to do with it, don't do anything !! There's no compulsion to use it just because you can !! So many people have 'ruined' their islands because they jumped in feet-first with terraforming without having a single idea of what they wanted, or even really how to do it !! I personally have not terraformed a single tile of my island ...

Being able to decorate outside, however, was the game-changer for me ... They can ditch terraforming next time for all I care, I never used it anyway. You, CylieDanny, seem to have had an idea of how to use terraforming to your benefit, with design and build ideas already in mind, but so many others don't. And that's the danger of it ...

 

[Seastar]

I'd say yes? This may sound surprising but I never terraformed my island. It wasn't that I didn't want to, it was that I simply never got around to it. Now my island is too messy for me to even bother...

 

[JellyBeans]

I definitely would, but I fear I would've ended up in a similar situation that I was in during the NL days when I would constantly refresh to nitpick little things about my layout so probably wouldn't have played as much as I did. I absolutely love the ability to terraform and adjust little (or big) things to be perfect for the ideas I have, but equally I would maybe have a far less stressful time if I wasn't trying to make everything look *exactly* as i imagine lol

 

[Croconaw]

Yes, I’d still play. I would’ve still found ways to do what I wanted to do with my island had there not been terraforming.

 

[Belle T]

I'd probably still play it, but they'd have to either replace it with something very interesting to make up for its absence or improve upon other elements in the game so much that I don't miss its absence in order for me to not feel as though it's a bit of a downgrade.

 

[VanitasFan26]

Well yeah terraforming can be tiresome when you're spending too much time having to make perfect rivers and perfect cliffs. I've done that several times in the past and it drove me crazy mentally. Since I recently restarted (for the 100th time yes I am crazy) I decided to not terraform as much. I did do a little bit of it by fixing up the cliffs and rivers so they line up with the paths I wanted and of course I used it as a blueprint for where I want the buildings, bridges, and inclines to go.

I would still play the game if terraforming wasn't a thing, but then again the Outsider Tool from Happy Home Paradise is so much better and easy to work with than the Island Designer App.

 

[Pyoopi]

I definitely would still play but I might say it'd be a bit of downgrade if terraforming was taken away. Unless the starter maps had more variation with cliffs scattered around. Plus I really like all the new inclines added and that'd be a bummer if those were taken away as well.

 

[S.J.]

On my original island, Bilby Isle, I didn't really do much terraforming until after the whole island was relatively decorated. I was new to the game and didn't really think about how I could be creative with it, and I had other priorities. After a while, I started terraforming minor things in different sections. Overall, it still doesn't have that much terraforming, and I'm very happy with it.

On my second island, Foreaux, I tried to unlock terraforming as soon as possible, because I had a vision about where I wanted things positioned, and where I wanted to have cliffs. This was a different way of playing to my original island.

Both experiences were good to me! I really didn't mind working within the confines of my original island format, so I could definitely have fun without terraforming. It was also really fun to do all the terraforming first and set up the island in an interesting way. The only downside to terraforming early on for me, was that it felt a little overwhelming to realise all the terraforming was complete, and now I was left with an entire island that needs decorating (rather than doing a little bit of decorating at a time).

 

[Xara]

i would. terraforming was honestly a really cool addition to the franchise, and people have created such beautiful islands with it, but for me, terraforming has given me a little too much creative freedom, to the point that it’s overwhelming and i don’t really like doing it. too much creative freedom overwhelms me since there’s so many options, which is why i don’t really focus on the terraforming/decorating aspect of the game much. that’s a personal problem ofc though lol. the most terraforming i’ve done is flatten my entire island 3 months ago, and i haven’t touched the game since because i don’t know where to go from there (plus i’ve been busy lol). so many options

i think new horizons without terraforming would be interesting. you’d be forced to accept your island’s rivers, cliffs etc, and i imagine a lot of people’s islands would look a lot different. as long as we still had control over where buildings go (for the most part) and when villagers move out, i’d still have bought the game even if it didn’t have terraforming.

 

[Millysaurusrexjr]

New Leaf didn't have terraforming and I still really enjoyed playing. So I know I'd definitely enjoy NH without terraforming, though I probably would have reset my map a bunch. I remember my top right corner of my island being a bit awkward in the beginning.

 

[drowningfairies]

Absolutely.
While terraforming is a plus, it is also pretty stressful.
I enjoy the decorating though and didn’t do much terraforming to my first island.
I’d be picky about my starting map, but I wouldn’t shoot the game down completely.

 

[mare stellas]

If the Island in the begining have more diverse layouts. (A bit like the mystery Island), whitout a problem.

Otherwise, i would get frustated to not have the style i want. Because the layout we get at the begining is flat at the entrance, two rivers, two pounds randomly placed an it goes up in the back only. (So three waterfalls at best)
Theres no real big difference between the maps, just where the river mouth are and the résident service.

 

[azurill]

Now that I feel more confident with terraforming I really enjoy it. When I got my first island back on release I did very little terraforming. I felt like I would mess it up if I changed it too much. It’s now completely different then when I first started. I still would have played the game if we didn’t get terraforming I just would have played it differently. My maps of each island would be very different.

 

[moon_child]

As I’ve played other AC games in the franchise and immensely enjoyed them, definitely yes. Terraforming is cool and I’ve had my fun with it but it quickly got old for me. I’m an old school kind of player and enjoy the life sim aspect of the game better rather than designing so I could do without terraforming. In fact, I’ve done so many islands but my forever island is a no terraforming island. So yes I can definitely do without it.

 

[AuroraFox]

I would. Even though I like having more control over the landscape, I don't feel like it's neccessary to enjoy the game. With a little creativity and ingenuity, you can still create a beautiful and personalized island without it.

 

[lunatepic]

I think, even without terraforming, the ability to place furniture outside still lends an ample amount of creative freedom, so yeah, I'd probably still sink a good amount of time into decorating!

looking back on previous entries in the series, I also think designing within constraints presents a certain kind of fun challenge in itself. with new leaf in particular, it was fun to see the massive range of things people could depict with the limited customization tools available. everyone had access to the same publics works projects, flowers, trees and bushes - it was the way they were curated and arranged that made each town a unique experience.

 

[Fey]

Absolutely! While I enjoy the option, it really is just that to me—optional.
I will definitely be using it eventually, but probably to much smaller degree than I initially expected when the game was announced.

I really enjoy the natural landscape of my Island and want to keep lots of its features fairly similar. Just a few tweaks here and there to spruce it up a bit