Animal Crossing: New Horizons

[punio75]

Yes I think so...

[punio75]

What your username on AC and your island name?

[BIG EDD]

Yes I think so...

Code is 18TLB

EDD Island

[BIG EDD]

Cheers Punio

[Neon Ignition]

Aiming for a 1.3x multiplier on Turnips has been doing me well so far, that and not asking for prices once I've sold them on.

I'm still appreciating the pace of experience and that we have a new AC after so long but I can't lie, I have quite a laundry list of niggles and issues about the game. I've only completed 2 games that are 2020 releases so far this year and this already doesn't take the top spot. I could write a fair bit about what I like but a very short form of the opposite would be that it undermines Nintendo's arguments about only making sequels with a real significant advancement ala not getting a new Metroid, F-Zero etc as AC is immensely iterative. I find it a little surprising that so many years and entries in that this is so similar to the experience of playing the GC version and so little effort has gone into the small details that matter a lot when playing a game that relies almost exclusively on the player repeating the same daily 20 minute loop ad nauseum. It's hard because it is enjoyable, especially after skipping WiiU and during a lockdown but at the same time it's possibly Nintendo's laziest efforts.

[Dogg Thang]

Well aside from it rubbing me up the wrong way something rotten when someone calls game development 'lazy' when, even at its most basic, it seems to take an incredible amount of dedication, hard work and resources and it feels very entitled and wrong to assign that word to anything other than the most scrappy of efforts, which this is clearly not, I would agree that so far the base game doesn't build on the previous games all that much. It follows the exact same play system and the mechanics work in the same way, with the main thing being added being the crafting. But it feels like more has been taken away as part of that process. That said, all speculation seems to indicate that a lot of that stuff will be added so I consider this game a moving target. What we have today will likely not represent what the whole game actually is and the full experience it delivers.

[Neon Ignition]

Lazy is probably a more loaded term, it's probably more about where they've focused on things as some basic QOL stuff is still missing. Fossils are probably an easy example. You set out, collect them and then take them to Blathers. You have to have them assessed which is a process that is effectively meaningless and having selected roughyl 4 fossils you then have to go through the process of him passing them back to then re-select them to pass them back to him again to donate them. All the while he lives up to his name waffling on with the exact same dialog. It's actually one of Animal Crossings strangest persistent quirks that Nintendo seem not to thing secondary lines of dialog would be beneficial in a game where you're on it everyday interacting with the characters who co-inhabit the island. I must have read the same lines from Blathers over a hundred times now which makes it the process that bit more tedious, hammering the A button to try and get a simple task done so I can head to the Nook next. That's without multiplying it across everything in the game, it was soul crushing to see the Miles achievement for helping the sailor duck which gives you some miles once you've repeated exact same 5 component task with him 30 times. It's incredibly small things that generally shouldn't annoy but as it's a game that revolves around the small things being the core experience it can become a bit like death by a thousand paper cuts.

[cutmymilk]

I'm not on the end game yet but I broadly agree. I was overwhelmed at first but when you suddenly get over that hump and there isn't anything new to spend miles on and the fish are always the same it can get a bit like that. I still love the atmosphere and have it on in the background a lot, though! Replanting all my trees for maximum efficiency now. All over the island! Also getting my bridge and ramp game on as well as moving buildings around which takes daily bells and some creativity, I guess.

There isn't anything stopping them dumping a massive amount of interactive items and events at any point so it is still an exciting game.

I iust thought, the qualms you have must have been intentional. It is a deliberately slow game. Like eating fruit one. At. A. Time. When you want to move some trees.

[Budge74]

That’s kinda true.
If you expect to be able to do everything all at once, you’ll be disappointed.
Some of the obstacles they put in your way may seem artificial, but it’s all to reinforce the chilled vibe.
It’s a game to play over a year or two, not a month.

Also, have you tried to play the GC version recently?
It’s a dog.
To say there hasn’t been any QOL improvements isn’t true.

[Neon Ignition]

Presumably yep, there must be some sort of intention behind it maybe to slow your progress. I'd definitely want to see a lot of advancements for the next installment to make life within the game itself more varied, easier and better suited to longer play stints

[Family Fry]

Nintendo have just dropped a trailer for a new update coming on Thursday adding new things and new event dates on the horizon.

Put the video in spoiler, just in case as the video thumbnail is a character reveal.

->Open Spoiler<-

I’m sure they will make some quality of life updates over time, like creating bait in quantities instead of one at a time and other things. There’s no way they are removing button dialogues, do people really not want Blathers in the museum? Maybe just have it be a box outside the museum you drop stuff into, it would take away the heart from the games interactions.

Why stop there may as well not have a nook shop or able sisters to visit daily, just let you have a nookazon app where you can sit in your hut and order everything to your house without speaking to anyone, yeah that would be such a fun game.

[Neon Ignition]

They don't need to remove the interactions, just streamline or vary the ones that are staggeringly repetitive to the point of just being a grind

[Dogg Thang]

Nice stuff being added! A chunk of the stuff I was just saying I missed seems to be returning on Thursday.

[Budge74]

Anyway, the nip predictor says I’m on for a small spike tomorrow.
I’ll post if it’s anything to get excited about.

[Budge74]

..just let you have a nookazon app where you can sit in your hut and order everything to your house..

Erm.