i think they made it too "nice". no more lip from villagers, it's just all about being anxiety free safespace uwu uwu cushion. there is a reason why we all moved on to stardew
I only played acnh to build a city island. Which sucks due to the lack of items. So i completely stopped playing the game. Unfortunately nintendo will keep making the Characters all soft now due to backlash from the gamecube game. Not only that people will cry and want the villager gone if the villager is mean to them. Which is insane.
New Horizons was my first Animal Crossing game, and I instantly fell in love. My friends were playing and there was so much to do. It was the first game I ever got over 200 hours in, and still one of only three that I have over 200 hours in. I loved it and played it so much. Then I realized the flaws as time went on. The game wasted your time. Many may argue that Animal Crossing is supposed to waste your time, and I agree, but New Horizons didn't waste your time in a good way. New Horizons wasted your time in the most infuriating ways possible. You were playing online with a friend for 3 hours and all of a sudden someone disconnects? Good job, all the progress you made over those hours is just gone forever. You wanted to do multiplayer in the first place? Go through all the trouble of the Dodo Airlines dialogue and through all the confusing menus just to open multiplayer and hope you chose the right option. All the little cracks in it like this really stopped me from loving it long term. I adored my time with it, but because of these issues I dropped it and haven't looked back on it in like 3 years. It's a shame because I adored it, but I have moved on after less than a year of playing it.
Granted the only other Animal Crossing I’ve played before this was the original Wii version, but I noticed New Horizons almost feels like there’s a dead end. Once you pick up all the seashells, find the fossils, hit the rocks, there’s not much else to do. No doubt, I’ve enjoyed playing, but I can’t sit at the game for hours and keep playing.
I dont think it was a train wreck, they took the custimization weve been wanting for a while and gave us things like happy home designer (being able to to design your own villagers houses), terraforming, and customizing your characters features. BUT i will agree where it lacks is the building upgrades, my biggest dissappointment with this game is there isnt like a certain thing that you cna pride yourself on showing other “look how far ive gotten in this game?” In New Leaf it was the town tree growing bigger, in Wild world it was sizing up your Nook shop until it was a 3 story mall! I was so so so sad when i realized that updates were coming and our nook shop didnt grow beyond 1 expansion 😢
You bring up some really valid points! The customization features are definitely a highlight, but I can definitely understand the disappointment with the building upgrades. It's really what made New Horizons such a let down for me since that was one of the main things that kept me hooked on New Leaf back in the day. But it seemed like this game had different priorities. I'm just hoping the next Animal Crossing game can find the best of both worlds. :)
Its so weird because i love new horizons genuinely, however it doesnt compare to new leaf for me. I think its too easy. I want it to have more depths, make one decision that could lead to a different outcome rather than everyones hourney be rhe exact same. Id like to see being able to design shops, and pick and choose what shops come to your island.
That's a good take on this game. They did add more over time with the expansion so you have daily task to work on. They also added the other island you can visit and set up permanent shops for the weekly visitors, but other than that it really was just a cozy escape game that released at just the right time. I am actually glad they took away that residents can just leave when not logged in. I would be devastated if Reneigh ever left my island. lol
I think you made a really great point when you mentioned that time stops when we stop the game. To further expand on that, I think the biggest issue is that the game forgot why we wanted to play it. It's not just being able to customise everything. It's an escape from our lives. Before we just had to chill on the island, free of responsibilities, making friends and just existing. Whether we were there or not, life went on and villagers could just leave. Now in NH, everything is centered around us, we control everything like a puppermaster. That's why the game feels soul-less to me and lost the charm of the series.
The essence of Animal Crossing was always about escaping into a living, breathing world that existed with or without us. New Horizons turned us from participants into puppet masters, and that's exactly where the magic was lost. Your insight really captures why the game feels soulless to many of us older fans. It's like they gave us more control but took away the very thing that made the series special - that sense of a world beyond our influence. Thanks for articulating this so well! 😊
This game is weird bc it is my first AC experience but it did become hollow so quickly. As a lifelong simmer the terraforming and expansion pack have been the two funnest parts. I still revisit it as a comfort space but there really isn’t much to do except grind away at cutting and picking up stuff. I did want to mention that the weirdest part is that the developers have put an inordinate amount of detail into the game programming (the flowers blooming, certain dialogues, weather programming, etc. and the graphics are gorgeous…) but there’s still something missing. It might be the villager one dimensionality… the lack of interaction with the objects, not sure yet!
That's a great point! A ton of detail was put into the programming, like a lot of nuances as you said. It's strange. I kinda get the feeling that they rushed to get the game out, too which is why a lot of the gameplay features feel so half-baked.
I don't usually comment on videos much but I just have to in this case. Wild World was my first AC game back when I was in 3rd grade and I loved everything about it. I spent ages just talking to the villagers, finding things to do or sometimes just sit in one my cozy rooms and listen to the K.K. tunes. City folks was alright, had me hooked for a long while too, didn't get to play New Leaf much because I was too busy with school and getting a job. But from the bit that I played it seemed really cool. The first time I booted New Horizons I was excited because the graphics looked superb and it all was promising. Something I noticed really quickly was that the villagers seemed to not have too much to say but I was too busy building and exploring that I didn't mind it much. After more Villagers moved in I got annoyed with how dull they all were. They all said the same thing and I could do them no wrong, whether I was gone for a year or not. Back in Wild World, the Animals had soooo much to say after you got to know them. "Got to know them" is the key here, bc some didn't want anything to do with you if you were strangers and some straight up insulted you sometimes. It felt like they had their own personality. I read somewhere that some kids got sad after the Villagers were mean to them so they removed all of this to babyproof the whole game. I also remember that back when the game came out you were the ultimate villain if you collected Villagers just for their looks and not their personalities. But what personality? The looks is all we were left with. Also time skipping? You were called a cheater and everything under the sun if you dared to time skip. In the old days, time skipping was part of the game (also it's a single player for the most part but that's besides the point xD) I don't want to keep on rambling but I gotta say that I'm glad I found your video. I felt so alone back when the game came out because I hated it but everyone kept praising it and saying how good it is but I miss the personality and most of all the soul that the old games had. Sorry for the wall of text, hope you all have a great day
Thank you so much for taking the time to share your thoughts and experiences! Your comment truly resonated with me. It's wonderful to hear from a long-time Animal Crossing fan who understands the charms of the earlier games. I completely agree about the richness of the villager interactions in the older titles - that process of getting to know them and seeing their unique personalities shine through was such a special part of the experience. Your insights about the changing community attitudes towards things like time skipping and villager selection are spot-on as well. Thank you for sharing your memories with us, this comment was an absolute joy to read. :)
See I grew up watching my sisters play animal crossing on the GameCube and I remember them being DEVASTATED when one their favorite villages would leave them a letter telling them they’d packed up their bags and would never see them again. The dialogue was also VICIOUS but it was just so hilarious, it felt like you were living in THEIR world as opposed to them being nothing more than decorations in yours with New Horizons. I personally played City Folk like there 😢was no tomorrow and I spent countless hours growing up with that game. So much charm (although I know dialogue had started to see it’s changes), the holidays were so exciting and your villagers would talk about it leading up to the actual event which made it feel so much more real, and the special NPC’s randomly popping up felt like a treat rather than what new horizons gives us where half are missing and the ones that are there lack so much personality and just kind of stand there at town hall…. New horizons got me through pandemic but it’s a game I can’t bring myself to go back to. I never played animal crossing for the customizations…as nice as the feature is, I played for their friendships I would form, the excitement each new day brought something different, and the connections I would create to escape the real world. It just felt like there always something new to discover, and New horizons felt like everything was on the table from the get go. No surprises. And not in a good way.
You've hit the nail on the head! 😊 That's exactly what I miss about the older games. The unpredictability, the charm, the feeling that the villagers had lives beyond just being decorations. New Horizons traded that soul for prettier graphics and customization options. It's like they forgot what made Animal Crossing special in the first place. Your experience with City Folk sounds a lot like mine with New Leaf. Thanks for sharing your thoughts - it's comforting to know I'm not alone in feeling this way about the series' evolution
Yeah T_T While I love customizing my island and I do love that the villagers won't move out without warning, the game itself is so shallow under its pretty face. The dialogue is so limited, which is a HUGE part of why the characters feel so soulless and flat. There are so few types of interactions you can have with your villagers, and many of them I actively avoid because they can be detrimental to your island, if you care about things like what your villagers' houses look like or what clothes they wear. I don't deliver gifts anymore because Chief got a bathrobe once and he NEVER TAKES IT OFF. I've gifted him clothes I like on him several times and he's still ALWAYS wearing that bathrobe, and to me it's just a huge flag walking around saying "remember how frustrating this game is?" I also hate to talk to villagers when they're "thinking" now because I don't want to have to quickly quit without saving if they say they want to move and can't be dissuaded the first time. So that's another one of the few interactions that I hate and don't participate in. Plus villagers barge into my house EVERY time I go in it, so I avoid my house too unless I want to risk puttering around for several minutes until my home invader wants to leave. And I liked when villagers came to my house in New Leaf! Because they weren't boring, flat, walking canned line regurgitators, and they didn't do it EVERY time I went into my house! Another thing that makes the island and villagers feel lifeless is that you can't interact with most of the decorations/furniture, and the villagers can only look at things, water things, dance, and sit down. My sister still plays Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp, and that game is CONSTANTLY getting new outfits and furniture, and the villagers can interact with ALL of them. There are things they can get inside, things they can jump on, fly in, dance on, etc etc so the villagers can DO things and the furniture isn't just useless set dressing. Plus the furniture in ACPC is WAY more interesting; I want to have all the fantasy stuff from that game. And the outfits and hair are so well done and pretty, while I feel like I just settle on my character's hair in ACNH while knowing Nintendo has done better elsewhere. I have so many other complaints about quality of life in ACNH too. Why do I have to enter and exit the dressing room every time I want to buy something if the items don't all fit onto one outfit? I have ADHD, and you expect me to keep track of which ones I already got?? And why not have an indicator that it's already in your catalogue/in storage?? And so many of the limitations with decorating are so inane and frustrating, like unavoidable gaps/things being impossible to line up, being unable to put rugs outside, not being able to hang wall decorations on cliffs or anything outside, and those are just the first things that came to my head immediately. Oh yeah, and why is it so incredibly hard to get DIY recipes without finding people online to trade with??? I got on a few months ago and spent many in-game weeks trying to get the decayed tree recipe and I still don't have it T^T Part of me wonders if they made it so unsatisfying on purpose, because if the game was too well executed, people might not feel the need to buy the next game because they're happy enough with the previous one. That's one of the theories about why the pokemon games keep adding new game features while removing the best ones from game to game: to increase replayability. "If you want to play the game where pokemon follow you around, play this one! If you want to mega evolutions, play this other one!" etc. Sorry about the essay lol but I have so many complaints and was ready to rant
I played new leaf for 4 years straight, even got my town corrupted and had to restart. I pre-ordered horizons, played it for a month and then sold it back to gamestop some time afterwards. I wish I didn't sell it so I could experience the updates I guess.
Hey, it's never too late to get it back pre owned if that's something you're okay with! Even though I didn't like the game, I would definitely suggest trying out the updates to see if it's something that you like. :)
I have a weirder perspective on this as the only other Animal Crossing game Ive played extensively is the GameCube original. I've dabbled a little bit in Wild World on DS, but weirdly enough I never even touched City Folk or New Leaf - the latter of which i regularly hear is the best one by a long shot! However I did buy New Horizons and I rode the hype of the game's release, and... we are on the exact same page. 😅 We went through the motions in the exact same way, the progression and helping out Nook and working your way up to terraforming feeling well-paced and rewarding! And then all of a sudden, the game just kinda stops...? So many furniture sets and features were just stripped out of this game too, there are definitely gameplay clips of things from New Leaf or Wild World I recall seeing that are just nowhere to be found in New horizons. It's completely apropos to your own critique also, but as someone who only played the GameCube one too, tthe villagers now have zero personality. They're so rude and sassy in the original Animal Crossing and I'm sad to see that this meanspiritedness is gone. 😂 It feels like a series that, for better or worse, strayed from its original inspiration - which was to re-create the feeling the director was feeling at the time when he moved house so he could work at the Nintendo offices and had to adjust to a new life and felt like an outsider. I fear Nintendo is entering another of its weird behind-the-curve phases where the developers get obsessed with an idea other games and companies have already solved over the last decade. In the 2000's it was finally getting off of carts and onto disks, in the 2010's it largely felt like a struggle to figure out some sort of online infrastructure, and now in the 2020s, lord help us... I think Nintendo has discovered the sandbox game and thinks that if they build the sandbox part, they either don't have to build the game or they can ignore the roots of the franchise they slapped sandboxing onto. So many of their big releases lately show off this fantastic concept, and then I play it and hit a point where i feel the developers didn't know how to end their game. I'm just sitting there like "wait that's it?" or "Oh we're at the end already?". I hope it's a concept Nintendo falls out of love with soon, if Im being honest.
This is a really good observation! I've played the original Animal Crossing pretty soon after I had spent 100+ hours on New Leaf and I remember thinking "darn, these villagers are in a mood!" It was a lot of fun adjusting to living in my new town and it definitely succeeded in making that "new to town" feeling come alive. The truth is that moving to a new area is always going to be uncomfortable. You're going to meet a lot of nice people, and also a ton of mean people. But that's just life. I would argue that Animal Crossing - in addition to being a town builder - is also a life simulator. It felt very real and believable in the first game but also New Leaf included. (I would highly suggest you try it out eventually!) I love how you mentioned Nintendo having different infatuations at different points with gameplay "gimmicks." I really hope they do fall out of love with it too, because I think it's sucking the originality out of their newer games. Like, this is a SUPER unpopular opinion I have but... I didn't think Tears of the Kingdom was anything that impressive. Sure, the story was really bombastic and I put in a ton of hours into finishing the game and a good portion of the side quests but it's just BOTW 2.0. I kept on playing expecting something new or interesting with the gameplay or story but it just never came. That's the reason why it took me over a year to finish the game. I had to force myself through it. But your comment definitely makes a ton of sense! Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts! 😁 Always a joy to read them.
@@Dutchess5 Once again, you and I are on the same page about TotK 😂that's a prime example of the sandbox feeling not just played out but also paced badly. I remember clearing Hyrule Castle as a sort of penultimate dungeon and boss fight, and suddenly being given those optional tasks on top of the pathway to Ganon. I was so confused and honestly that game is the main inspiration of the "wait that's it?" feeling I got while playing Nintendo's recent outings. I sincerely think TotK would've benefited from being a linear Zelda that went back to the formula and had the potential to be the new best. On the topic of Animal Crossing though, I can imagine going from New Leaf to the original was quite a tonal shift! I'm glad you still had your own fun with it though - I won't get on the soapbox and say it's how Animal Crossing should've stayed or anything like that, but I think the series as a whole is a great example of how visions change and that always comes with some equal exchange. I may just go out and find New Leaf in a couple weeks! On observation it easily must be the most feature-packed Animal Crossing in the series. :)
I love new horizons for its building & aesthetic possibilities since it calms me down, but in terms of actual gameplay and homely feeling it has nothing on new leaf. New leaf will forever be my favorite animal crossing game😊
Absolutely! Couldn't agree more. Customization was amazing in New Horizons, I will give it that. But in terms of sheer content, New Leaf definitely pulls through.
I’ve never played the old animal crossing games so i cant really relate to the part of missing the old characters, buildings, etc but i will agree new horizons does get boring after a while. I’ve had the game since release, played it 24/7, then never picked up the game again. Sure theres the DLC where you can decorate villager vacation homes but other than that it feels like its not really worth picking up the game anymore. It also doesn’t feel relaxing and more of a competition of who can make a pretty island with cute villagers and do it all over again. Maybe its fun for some people but i get overwhelmed or bored thinking of a “perfect island”.
I played the original Gamecube version years ago and enjoyed it for a month or so before I got bored. I played New Horizons for maybe 30 minutes before I knew they had ruined it, it seems they stripped out a lot of the social elements to the game and it became mostly about collecting furniture and other things to make your island look nice. The game just didn't appeal to me and felt soulless, which I think is kind of typical of Nintendo these days.
I totally agree with this. This game is just a decorating simulator, which is fun for a while, but the island just feels so dead. The villagers have very predictable, repetitive dialogue. No one wants to play hide and seek or anything out of the ordinary. If you find a lost item they literally just tell you who it belongs to. There's no "gameplay." I can't bring myself to finish decorating my island because I know that past that, there's nothing to do. I really wish they had just remade New Leaf with more customization options. After 4 years, the game definitely feels very empty.
Yep, you hit the nail on the bored here! There's nothing "extra" to do in this game, or something new and special to discover. It's all very bland and boring once you reach a certain point. Riding off of what I experienced in New Leaf, I was definitely excepting something similar, and when that didn't come... it really hit me hard. Thanks for commenting on my video! Means a lot to me :)
Frankly, this is how I've felt about every entry in the series since dropping the original. For me, the original had a real novelty when it came out, but once that novelty wore out, I kind of just got bored of it. And none of the new games have reintroduced any kind of their own novelty. I feel like the series itself is a shell of an idea just waiting to be filled, and in my opinion, none of the things you listed from any other AC help to fix that problem. Except for the passage of time part you mentioned. I do think something neat could be done if they took the "simulate what happens over time" aspect of something like Dwarf Fortress (super simplified of course, we don't need "pinky toe got broken" level info, just "villager did this on this day") to generate a constant stream of drama, comedy, etc. For example, instead of just "it got messy while you were gone" or "someone moved away," why not "Mathilda got mad at Sparro on June 3rd, causing her to move her house across town. Now you can sometimes catch her late at night, egging Sparro's house." and both characters would talk to you about this and maybe ask you to help them resolve it. Just a little bit of that could really help liven things up if applied across the whole game. You were gone a long time, so Isabelle took up your role and made some changes to the island without you. Could even have villagers talk about how much they donated, and whether they like her or your changes more, etc. I think there's a soul somewhere inside Animal Crossing, just waiting to be found. But at least in my opinion, they've come nowhere close yet. Frankly, I wouldn't mind the option to straight up live in towns with other players. Whether that be the classic 4-players in a town or just a town of exclusively players, I think either could be neat. And by players I mean online, not just locally. Leaving each other letters, having certain areas you could change, maybe voting on a mayor, occasionally catching each other online and being able to maybe do some minigames together or something. I think there's a lot more player interaction that could be super fun. As it stands, I've had my fill of sassy villagers of old, and saccharine villagers of new, I need something... more. A lot more. But nothing impossible. Just some ambition, a desire to really surprise and delight the player.
What an intriguing perspective! I really appreciate you taking the time to share your thoughts on the Animal Crossing series. You've given me a lot to think about. :) I find myself both agreeing and disagreeing with various points you've made. On one hand, I can see where you're coming from regarding the series potentially feeling like a shell of an idea. It's true that the core gameplay loop hasn't changed dramatically since the original. However, I'm not sure I entirely agree that none of the newer entries have introduced their own novelty. Each game has brought some unique features to the table, even if they haven't fundamentally altered the experience - even New Horizons, but my issue is that they didn't add enough to make the game viable for long term play. That being said, the concept of incorporating more dynamic events and relationships between villagers is absolutely brilliant. Imagine the storytelling possibilities it could add to the game world? XD Let's hope something like that is in Animal Crossing's future. :)
The game is definitely boring AF; I just picked it up again and yeah I STILL feel the same way. I’ve never played any other AC game to compare how fun it is amongst the titles.
@mehdigeek You make low effort comparison videos that are definitely click bait bound. She has a smaller audience but a better fan base that's been consistently growing for quite some time now with content that has a soul and makes people think. Listen, quit being a low input dickhead for the sake of it and go make another low effort comparison video or something.
Ah, a true connoisseur of the comment section! Who needs context when you can dive straight into discussion? Your bravery in offering an opinion without the burden of information is truly commendable.
I think this video sucks tbh. You don’t really list what made the old games special beyond 1. Time actually seems to pass and 2. The intro music is better.. like uh ok? The way you write the script too it just sounds like a kid throwing a fit rather than a nuanced take
Says the person with 22 followers. 😂 I’d like to see you make a video like this. I’ll be waiting. Constructive criticism is always a good thing. However, you’re just plain rude.
@@teresakeys I don’t write video essays I write history papers. I know how to make an argument and how to support it with evidence that’s why I graduated with a 4.0 in college. I don’t make things for the source of ragebait or entrainment and idc how many followers I have. Thanks though!
@@teresakeys also I feel like I have to say I only commented in a rude way because the video itself is rude. If I worked on this game I’d be personally offended. She said the game sucks like a million times and that’s fine but she herself didn’t give much constructive criticism on how to make the game better so what gives? Can’t take what you dish out?
Hey nice! I'm a 4.0 student too, specializing in literary analysis of 19th and 20th century English and American literature. It's cool you're into history, definitely not something a lot of people want to get into anymore, unfortunately. Let me just say though that UA-cam isn't an academic journal. I've always needed a professor's approval before citing a UA-cam video as a source. This platform is where I share my thoughts and opinions, not write dissertations. If my views resonate with you, great! If not, move on. The fact that you're lingering here suggests a clear bias. You claim I said the game "sucks" a million times (hyperbole much?), and that because the video was rude, your comment had to be rude too. That's a classic example of both the straw man fallacy and tu quoque (or "you too") fallacy. Congrats on the logical gymnastics there! As for offending Nintendo developers with my "rude" video, I highly doubt they're losing sleep over a small-time UA-camr's opinions when they're too busy swimming in their money pools. 😂 They barely listen to the majority of their fans, let alone me lol. UA-cam is for entertainment and personal discussion, not peer-reviewed critiques. If you're looking for academic rigor, you're in the wrong place. Maybe try the library next time?
You just complaining all the time… it‘s new horizons not new leaf… get over it!!! It has a lot new stuff!!! What is wrong with you!!! Not thankful at all!
I appreciate your passion, but let's take a deep breath, okay? You're right, it's not New Leaf - that's kind of the point. As for new stuff, sure, we got outdoor furniture. Revolutionary! Look, I get it. You're having fun, and that's great! Being critical doesn't mean I'm not thankful - it means I care enough about the series to want it to be the best it can be. So how about we agree to disagree? You enjoy your island paradise, and I'll be over here, waiting for a worthwhile Animal Crossing game.
It's a review on the game. A review either means someone likes a particular thing or not. She happens to be disappointed with New Horizons...as I am too and many others. I feel like the game is a dead end. I've noticed I can't seem to play longer than maybe 30 minutes a day because there's not much to do other than some basic every day things like picking up seashells, hitting rocks, finding fossils, sell to the Nook Store, and repeat over and over again. Please elaborate on what new stuff there is? If there is a lot of new stuff, maybe I'm just missing it? But as far as your comment goes, getting THIS upset over a short review video is pretty humorous tbh. lol
@@teresakeys I’m confused are people saying this as if new leaf isn’t also boring as hell. I have 40+ hours in both games and in both games I hit a wall where I felt like there was nothing to do. It isn’t fair to NH that people have nostalgia for new leaf. If NH is just new leaf with a slightly different coat of paint than yeah no shit you’re going to be bored with it when you’ve played new leaf to death. Try playing a new new leaf save file for longer than 10 hours and see if it still holds up. It doesn’t and both games have the same problem. Acting like NH is somehow worse just cause it’s new it’s so stupid
i think they made it too "nice". no more lip from villagers, it's just all about being anxiety free safespace uwu uwu cushion. there is a reason why we all moved on to stardew
I only played acnh to build a city island. Which sucks due to the lack of items. So i completely stopped playing the game. Unfortunately nintendo will keep making the Characters all soft now due to backlash from the gamecube game. Not only that people will cry and want the villager gone if the villager is mean to them. Which is insane.
New Horizons was my first Animal Crossing game, and I instantly fell in love. My friends were playing and there was so much to do. It was the first game I ever got over 200 hours in, and still one of only three that I have over 200 hours in. I loved it and played it so much. Then I realized the flaws as time went on. The game wasted your time. Many may argue that Animal Crossing is supposed to waste your time, and I agree, but New Horizons didn't waste your time in a good way. New Horizons wasted your time in the most infuriating ways possible. You were playing online with a friend for 3 hours and all of a sudden someone disconnects? Good job, all the progress you made over those hours is just gone forever. You wanted to do multiplayer in the first place? Go through all the trouble of the Dodo Airlines dialogue and through all the confusing menus just to open multiplayer and hope you chose the right option. All the little cracks in it like this really stopped me from loving it long term. I adored my time with it, but because of these issues I dropped it and haven't looked back on it in like 3 years. It's a shame because I adored it, but I have moved on after less than a year of playing it.
Granted the only other Animal Crossing I’ve played before this was the original Wii version, but I noticed New Horizons almost feels like there’s a dead end. Once you pick up all the seashells, find the fossils, hit the rocks, there’s not much else to do. No doubt, I’ve enjoyed playing, but I can’t sit at the game for hours and keep playing.
Yeah, exactly! Once you reach a certain point, there's literally nothing else to do except move onto another game.
I dont think it was a train wreck, they took the custimization weve been wanting for a while and gave us things like happy home designer (being able to to design your own villagers houses), terraforming, and customizing your characters features. BUT i will agree where it lacks is the building upgrades, my biggest dissappointment with this game is there isnt like a certain thing that you cna pride yourself on showing other “look how far ive gotten in this game?” In New Leaf it was the town tree growing bigger, in Wild world it was sizing up your Nook shop until it was a 3 story mall! I was so so so sad when i realized that updates were coming and our nook shop didnt grow beyond 1 expansion 😢
You bring up some really valid points! The customization features are definitely a highlight, but I can definitely understand the disappointment with the building upgrades. It's really what made New Horizons such a let down for me since that was one of the main things that kept me hooked on New Leaf back in the day. But it seemed like this game had different priorities. I'm just hoping the next Animal Crossing game can find the best of both worlds. :)
Its so weird because i love new horizons genuinely, however it doesnt compare to new leaf for me. I think its too easy. I want it to have more depths, make one decision that could lead to a different outcome rather than everyones hourney be rhe exact same. Id like to see being able to design shops, and pick and choose what shops come to your island.
That's a good take on this game. They did add more over time with the expansion so you have daily task to work on. They also added the other island you can visit and set up permanent shops for the weekly visitors, but other than that it really was just a cozy escape game that released at just the right time.
I am actually glad they took away that residents can just leave when not logged in. I would be devastated if Reneigh ever left my island. lol
I think you made a really great point when you mentioned that time stops when we stop the game. To further expand on that, I think the biggest issue is that the game forgot why we wanted to play it. It's not just being able to customise everything. It's an escape from our lives. Before we just had to chill on the island, free of responsibilities, making friends and just existing. Whether we were there or not, life went on and villagers could just leave. Now in NH, everything is centered around us, we control everything like a puppermaster. That's why the game feels soul-less to me and lost the charm of the series.
The essence of Animal Crossing was always about escaping into a living, breathing world that existed with or without us. New Horizons turned us from participants into puppet masters, and that's exactly where the magic was lost. Your insight really captures why the game feels soulless to many of us older fans. It's like they gave us more control but took away the very thing that made the series special - that sense of a world beyond our influence. Thanks for articulating this so well! 😊
This game is weird bc it is my first AC experience but it did become hollow so quickly. As a lifelong simmer the terraforming and expansion pack have been the two funnest parts. I still revisit it as a comfort space but there really isn’t much to do except grind away at cutting and picking up stuff.
I did want to mention that the weirdest part is that the developers have put an inordinate amount of detail into the game programming (the flowers blooming, certain dialogues, weather programming, etc. and the graphics are gorgeous…) but there’s still something missing. It might be the villager one dimensionality… the lack of interaction with the objects, not sure yet!
That's a great point! A ton of detail was put into the programming, like a lot of nuances as you said. It's strange. I kinda get the feeling that they rushed to get the game out, too which is why a lot of the gameplay features feel so half-baked.
I don't usually comment on videos much but I just have to in this case. Wild World was my first AC game back when I was in 3rd grade and I loved everything about it. I spent ages just talking to the villagers, finding things to do or sometimes just sit in one my cozy rooms and listen to the K.K. tunes. City folks was alright, had me hooked for a long while too, didn't get to play New Leaf much because I was too busy with school and getting a job. But from the bit that I played it seemed really cool. The first time I booted New Horizons I was excited because the graphics looked superb and it all was promising. Something I noticed really quickly was that the villagers seemed to not have too much to say but I was too busy building and exploring that I didn't mind it much. After more Villagers moved in I got annoyed with how dull they all were. They all said the same thing and I could do them no wrong, whether I was gone for a year or not. Back in Wild World, the Animals had soooo much to say after you got to know them. "Got to know them" is the key here, bc some didn't want anything to do with you if you were strangers and some straight up insulted you sometimes. It felt like they had their own personality. I read somewhere that some kids got sad after the Villagers were mean to them so they removed all of this to babyproof the whole game. I also remember that back when the game came out you were the ultimate villain if you collected Villagers just for their looks and not their personalities. But what personality? The looks is all we were left with. Also time skipping? You were called a cheater and everything under the sun if you dared to time skip. In the old days, time skipping was part of the game (also it's a single player for the most part but that's besides the point xD)
I don't want to keep on rambling but I gotta say that I'm glad I found your video. I felt so alone back when the game came out because I hated it but everyone kept praising it and saying how good it is but I miss the personality and most of all the soul that the old games had.
Sorry for the wall of text, hope you all have a great day
Thank you so much for taking the time to share your thoughts and experiences! Your comment truly resonated with me. It's wonderful to hear from a long-time Animal Crossing fan who understands the charms of the earlier games. I completely agree about the richness of the villager interactions in the older titles - that process of getting to know them and seeing their unique personalities shine through was such a special part of the experience. Your insights about the changing community attitudes towards things like time skipping and villager selection are spot-on as well. Thank you for sharing your memories with us, this comment was an absolute joy to read. :)
See I grew up watching my sisters play animal crossing on the GameCube and I remember them being DEVASTATED when one their favorite villages would leave them a letter telling them they’d packed up their bags and would never see them again. The dialogue was also VICIOUS but it was just so hilarious, it felt like you were living in THEIR world as opposed to them being nothing more than decorations in yours with New Horizons.
I personally played City Folk like there 😢was no tomorrow and I spent countless hours growing up with that game. So much charm (although I know dialogue had started to see it’s changes), the holidays were so exciting and your villagers would talk about it leading up to the actual event which made it feel so much more real, and the special NPC’s randomly popping up felt like a treat rather than what new horizons gives us where half are missing and the ones that are there lack so much personality and just kind of stand there at town hall….
New horizons got me through pandemic but it’s a game I can’t bring myself to go back to. I never played animal crossing for the customizations…as nice as the feature is, I played for their friendships I would form, the excitement each new day brought something different, and the connections I would create to escape the real world. It just felt like there always something new to discover, and New horizons felt like everything was on the table from the get go. No surprises. And not in a good way.
You've hit the nail on the head! 😊 That's exactly what I miss about the older games. The unpredictability, the charm, the feeling that the villagers had lives beyond just being decorations. New Horizons traded that soul for prettier graphics and customization options. It's like they forgot what made Animal Crossing special in the first place. Your experience with City Folk sounds a lot like mine with New Leaf. Thanks for sharing your thoughts - it's comforting to know I'm not alone in feeling this way about the series' evolution
Yeah T_T While I love customizing my island and I do love that the villagers won't move out without warning, the game itself is so shallow under its pretty face. The dialogue is so limited, which is a HUGE part of why the characters feel so soulless and flat. There are so few types of interactions you can have with your villagers, and many of them I actively avoid because they can be detrimental to your island, if you care about things like what your villagers' houses look like or what clothes they wear. I don't deliver gifts anymore because Chief got a bathrobe once and he NEVER TAKES IT OFF. I've gifted him clothes I like on him several times and he's still ALWAYS wearing that bathrobe, and to me it's just a huge flag walking around saying "remember how frustrating this game is?"
I also hate to talk to villagers when they're "thinking" now because I don't want to have to quickly quit without saving if they say they want to move and can't be dissuaded the first time. So that's another one of the few interactions that I hate and don't participate in. Plus villagers barge into my house EVERY time I go in it, so I avoid my house too unless I want to risk puttering around for several minutes until my home invader wants to leave. And I liked when villagers came to my house in New Leaf! Because they weren't boring, flat, walking canned line regurgitators, and they didn't do it EVERY time I went into my house!
Another thing that makes the island and villagers feel lifeless is that you can't interact with most of the decorations/furniture, and the villagers can only look at things, water things, dance, and sit down. My sister still plays Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp, and that game is CONSTANTLY getting new outfits and furniture, and the villagers can interact with ALL of them. There are things they can get inside, things they can jump on, fly in, dance on, etc etc so the villagers can DO things and the furniture isn't just useless set dressing. Plus the furniture in ACPC is WAY more interesting; I want to have all the fantasy stuff from that game. And the outfits and hair are so well done and pretty, while I feel like I just settle on my character's hair in ACNH while knowing Nintendo has done better elsewhere.
I have so many other complaints about quality of life in ACNH too. Why do I have to enter and exit the dressing room every time I want to buy something if the items don't all fit onto one outfit? I have ADHD, and you expect me to keep track of which ones I already got?? And why not have an indicator that it's already in your catalogue/in storage?? And so many of the limitations with decorating are so inane and frustrating, like unavoidable gaps/things being impossible to line up, being unable to put rugs outside, not being able to hang wall decorations on cliffs or anything outside, and those are just the first things that came to my head immediately. Oh yeah, and why is it so incredibly hard to get DIY recipes without finding people online to trade with??? I got on a few months ago and spent many in-game weeks trying to get the decayed tree recipe and I still don't have it T^T
Part of me wonders if they made it so unsatisfying on purpose, because if the game was too well executed, people might not feel the need to buy the next game because they're happy enough with the previous one. That's one of the theories about why the pokemon games keep adding new game features while removing the best ones from game to game: to increase replayability. "If you want to play the game where pokemon follow you around, play this one! If you want to mega evolutions, play this other one!" etc.
Sorry about the essay lol but I have so many complaints and was ready to rant
I played new leaf for 4 years straight, even got my town corrupted and had to restart. I pre-ordered horizons, played it for a month and then sold it back to gamestop some time afterwards. I wish I didn't sell it so I could experience the updates I guess.
Hey, it's never too late to get it back pre owned if that's something you're okay with! Even though I didn't like the game, I would definitely suggest trying out the updates to see if it's something that you like. :)
I have a weirder perspective on this as the only other Animal Crossing game Ive played extensively is the GameCube original. I've dabbled a little bit in Wild World on DS, but weirdly enough I never even touched City Folk or New Leaf - the latter of which i regularly hear is the best one by a long shot! However I did buy New Horizons and I rode the hype of the game's release, and... we are on the exact same page. 😅 We went through the motions in the exact same way, the progression and helping out Nook and working your way up to terraforming feeling well-paced and rewarding! And then all of a sudden, the game just kinda stops...? So many furniture sets and features were just stripped out of this game too, there are definitely gameplay clips of things from New Leaf or Wild World I recall seeing that are just nowhere to be found in New horizons.
It's completely apropos to your own critique also, but as someone who only played the GameCube one too, tthe villagers now have zero personality. They're so rude and sassy in the original Animal Crossing and I'm sad to see that this meanspiritedness is gone. 😂 It feels like a series that, for better or worse, strayed from its original inspiration - which was to re-create the feeling the director was feeling at the time when he moved house so he could work at the Nintendo offices and had to adjust to a new life and felt like an outsider.
I fear Nintendo is entering another of its weird behind-the-curve phases where the developers get obsessed with an idea other games and companies have already solved over the last decade. In the 2000's it was finally getting off of carts and onto disks, in the 2010's it largely felt like a struggle to figure out some sort of online infrastructure, and now in the 2020s, lord help us... I think Nintendo has discovered the sandbox game and thinks that if they build the sandbox part, they either don't have to build the game or they can ignore the roots of the franchise they slapped sandboxing onto. So many of their big releases lately show off this fantastic concept, and then I play it and hit a point where i feel the developers didn't know how to end their game. I'm just sitting there like "wait that's it?" or "Oh we're at the end already?". I hope it's a concept Nintendo falls out of love with soon, if Im being honest.
This is a really good observation! I've played the original Animal Crossing pretty soon after I had spent 100+ hours on New Leaf and I remember thinking "darn, these villagers are in a mood!" It was a lot of fun adjusting to living in my new town and it definitely succeeded in making that "new to town" feeling come alive. The truth is that moving to a new area is always going to be uncomfortable. You're going to meet a lot of nice people, and also a ton of mean people. But that's just life. I would argue that Animal Crossing - in addition to being a town builder - is also a life simulator. It felt very real and believable in the first game but also New Leaf included. (I would highly suggest you try it out eventually!)
I love how you mentioned Nintendo having different infatuations at different points with gameplay "gimmicks." I really hope they do fall out of love with it too, because I think it's sucking the originality out of their newer games. Like, this is a SUPER unpopular opinion I have but... I didn't think Tears of the Kingdom was anything that impressive. Sure, the story was really bombastic and I put in a ton of hours into finishing the game and a good portion of the side quests but it's just BOTW 2.0. I kept on playing expecting something new or interesting with the gameplay or story but it just never came. That's the reason why it took me over a year to finish the game. I had to force myself through it. But your comment definitely makes a ton of sense! Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts! 😁 Always a joy to read them.
@@Dutchess5 Once again, you and I are on the same page about TotK 😂that's a prime example of the sandbox feeling not just played out but also paced badly. I remember clearing Hyrule Castle as a sort of penultimate dungeon and boss fight, and suddenly being given those optional tasks on top of the pathway to Ganon. I was so confused and honestly that game is the main inspiration of the "wait that's it?" feeling I got while playing Nintendo's recent outings. I sincerely think TotK would've benefited from being a linear Zelda that went back to the formula and had the potential to be the new best.
On the topic of Animal Crossing though, I can imagine going from New Leaf to the original was quite a tonal shift! I'm glad you still had your own fun with it though - I won't get on the soapbox and say it's how Animal Crossing should've stayed or anything like that, but I think the series as a whole is a great example of how visions change and that always comes with some equal exchange. I may just go out and find New Leaf in a couple weeks! On observation it easily must be the most feature-packed Animal Crossing in the series. :)
I love new horizons for its building & aesthetic possibilities since it calms me down, but in terms of actual gameplay and homely feeling it has nothing on new leaf. New leaf will forever be my favorite animal crossing game😊
Absolutely! Couldn't agree more. Customization was amazing in New Horizons, I will give it that. But in terms of sheer content, New Leaf definitely pulls through.
I’ve never played the old animal crossing games so i cant really relate to the part of missing the old characters, buildings, etc but i will agree new horizons does get boring after a while. I’ve had the game since release, played it 24/7, then never picked up the game again. Sure theres the DLC where you can decorate villager vacation homes but other than that it feels like its not really worth picking up the game anymore. It also doesn’t feel relaxing and more of a competition of who can make a pretty island with cute villagers and do it all over again. Maybe its fun for some people but i get overwhelmed or bored thinking of a “perfect island”.
I played the original Gamecube version years ago and enjoyed it for a month or so before I got bored. I played New Horizons for maybe 30 minutes before I knew they had ruined it, it seems they stripped out a lot of the social elements to the game and it became mostly about collecting furniture and other things to make your island look nice. The game just didn't appeal to me and felt soulless, which I think is kind of typical of Nintendo these days.
I totally agree with this. This game is just a decorating simulator, which is fun for a while, but the island just feels so dead. The villagers have very predictable, repetitive dialogue. No one wants to play hide and seek or anything out of the ordinary. If you find a lost item they literally just tell you who it belongs to. There's no "gameplay." I can't bring myself to finish decorating my island because I know that past that, there's nothing to do. I really wish they had just remade New Leaf with more customization options. After 4 years, the game definitely feels very empty.
Yep, you hit the nail on the bored here! There's nothing "extra" to do in this game, or something new and special to discover. It's all very bland and boring once you reach a certain point. Riding off of what I experienced in New Leaf, I was definitely excepting something similar, and when that didn't come... it really hit me hard. Thanks for commenting on my video! Means a lot to me :)
Frankly, this is how I've felt about every entry in the series since dropping the original. For me, the original had a real novelty when it came out, but once that novelty wore out, I kind of just got bored of it. And none of the new games have reintroduced any kind of their own novelty. I feel like the series itself is a shell of an idea just waiting to be filled, and in my opinion, none of the things you listed from any other AC help to fix that problem.
Except for the passage of time part you mentioned. I do think something neat could be done if they took the "simulate what happens over time" aspect of something like Dwarf Fortress (super simplified of course, we don't need "pinky toe got broken" level info, just "villager did this on this day") to generate a constant stream of drama, comedy, etc. For example, instead of just "it got messy while you were gone" or "someone moved away," why not "Mathilda got mad at Sparro on June 3rd, causing her to move her house across town. Now you can sometimes catch her late at night, egging Sparro's house." and both characters would talk to you about this and maybe ask you to help them resolve it.
Just a little bit of that could really help liven things up if applied across the whole game. You were gone a long time, so Isabelle took up your role and made some changes to the island without you. Could even have villagers talk about how much they donated, and whether they like her or your changes more, etc.
I think there's a soul somewhere inside Animal Crossing, just waiting to be found. But at least in my opinion, they've come nowhere close yet. Frankly, I wouldn't mind the option to straight up live in towns with other players. Whether that be the classic 4-players in a town or just a town of exclusively players, I think either could be neat. And by players I mean online, not just locally. Leaving each other letters, having certain areas you could change, maybe voting on a mayor, occasionally catching each other online and being able to maybe do some minigames together or something. I think there's a lot more player interaction that could be super fun.
As it stands, I've had my fill of sassy villagers of old, and saccharine villagers of new, I need something... more. A lot more. But nothing impossible. Just some ambition, a desire to really surprise and delight the player.
What an intriguing perspective! I really appreciate you taking the time to share your thoughts on the Animal Crossing series. You've given me a lot to think about. :) I find myself both agreeing and disagreeing with various points you've made. On one hand, I can see where you're coming from regarding the series potentially feeling like a shell of an idea. It's true that the core gameplay loop hasn't changed dramatically since the original. However, I'm not sure I entirely agree that none of the newer entries have introduced their own novelty. Each game has brought some unique features to the table, even if they haven't fundamentally altered the experience - even New Horizons, but my issue is that they didn't add enough to make the game viable for long term play. That being said, the concept of incorporating more dynamic events and relationships between villagers is absolutely brilliant. Imagine the storytelling possibilities it could add to the game world? XD Let's hope something like that is in Animal Crossing's future. :)
New Horizons gives me too much control to the point it honestly kind of overwhelms me.
Same! It honestly gave me choice paralysis...
in their efforts to make everything "easy for new ppl" they made a bland basic shell of a game
Very true! That's unfortunately the issue that comes with dumbing down a game
This is why I never got into NH. I caught a scorpion and felt like that was all I needed to do 😂
Hah! That's too relatable XD
Make animal crossing great again ❤❤❤
Absolutely! Let's do it :D
But can we agree that games jn generak have gone down? New games dont hit right
couldn't agree more!
The game is definitely boring AF; I just picked it up again and yeah I STILL feel the same way. I’ve never played any other AC game to compare how fun it is amongst the titles.
Give New Leaf and the Gamecube original a try! Those are definitely a lot more fun to play through. :)
channel dying? just post a negative video on New Horizons and see the views hike
wrong
I appreciate your input! It’s always good to explore different angles, even if they’re a bit controversial.
@mehdigeek
You make low effort comparison videos that are definitely click bait bound. She has a smaller audience but a better fan base that's been consistently growing for quite some time now with content that has a soul and makes people think. Listen, quit being a low input dickhead for the sake of it and go make another low effort comparison video or something.
If you wanna talk about a dying channel, your channel peaked 6 years ago
@@mr.jedicool5596 yeah bc I stopped posting for like 4 years
I liked it
I did not watch the video.
Ah, a true connoisseur of the comment section! Who needs context when you can dive straight into discussion? Your bravery in offering an opinion without the burden of information is truly commendable.
Congrats 😂
@@Dutchess5 I offered zero opinion. I offered a factual statement.
Damn, girly just ended Nintendo and said peace out 😂
There was no other way to say it, girl! 🤣
I think this video sucks tbh. You don’t really list what made the old games special beyond 1. Time actually seems to pass and 2. The intro music is better.. like uh ok? The way you write the script too it just sounds like a kid throwing a fit rather than a nuanced take
Ouch! Sounds like I hit a nerve! Maybe I'll just start writing my scripts in crayon next time to really capture that "kid throwing a fit" vibe! 😂
Says the person with 22 followers. 😂 I’d like to see you make a video like this. I’ll be waiting. Constructive criticism is always a good thing. However, you’re just plain rude.
@@teresakeys I don’t write video essays I write history papers. I know how to make an argument and how to support it with evidence that’s why I graduated with a 4.0 in college. I don’t make things for the source of ragebait or entrainment and idc how many followers I have. Thanks though!
@@teresakeys also I feel like I have to say I only commented in a rude way because the video itself is rude. If I worked on this game I’d be personally offended. She said the game sucks like a million times and that’s fine but she herself didn’t give much constructive criticism on how to make the game better so what gives? Can’t take what you dish out?
Hey nice! I'm a 4.0 student too, specializing in literary analysis of 19th and 20th century English and American literature. It's cool you're into history, definitely not something a lot of people want to get into anymore, unfortunately. Let me just say though that UA-cam isn't an academic journal. I've always needed a professor's approval before citing a UA-cam video as a source. This platform is where I share my thoughts and opinions, not write dissertations. If my views resonate with you, great! If not, move on. The fact that you're lingering here suggests a clear bias.
You claim I said the game "sucks" a million times (hyperbole much?), and that because the video was rude, your comment had to be rude too. That's a classic example of both the straw man fallacy and tu quoque (or "you too") fallacy. Congrats on the logical gymnastics there!
As for offending Nintendo developers with my "rude" video, I highly doubt they're losing sleep over a small-time UA-camr's opinions when they're too busy swimming in their money pools. 😂 They barely listen to the majority of their fans, let alone me lol.
UA-cam is for entertainment and personal discussion, not peer-reviewed critiques. If you're looking for academic rigor, you're in the wrong place. Maybe try the library next time?
You just complaining all the time… it‘s new horizons not new leaf… get over it!!! It has a lot new stuff!!! What is wrong with you!!! Not thankful at all!
I appreciate your passion, but let's take a deep breath, okay? You're right, it's not New Leaf - that's kind of the point. As for new stuff, sure, we got outdoor furniture. Revolutionary! Look, I get it. You're having fun, and that's great! Being critical doesn't mean I'm not thankful - it means I care enough about the series to want it to be the best it can be. So how about we agree to disagree? You enjoy your island paradise, and I'll be over here, waiting for a worthwhile Animal Crossing game.
It's a review on the game. A review either means someone likes a particular thing or not. She happens to be disappointed with New Horizons...as I am too and many others. I feel like the game is a dead end. I've noticed I can't seem to play longer than maybe 30 minutes a day because there's not much to do other than some basic every day things like picking up seashells, hitting rocks, finding fossils, sell to the Nook Store, and repeat over and over again. Please elaborate on what new stuff there is? If there is a lot of new stuff, maybe I'm just missing it? But as far as your comment goes, getting THIS upset over a short review video is pretty humorous tbh. lol
@@teresakeys I’m confused are people saying this as if new leaf isn’t also boring as hell. I have 40+ hours in both games and in both games I hit a wall where I felt like there was nothing to do. It isn’t fair to NH that people have nostalgia for new leaf. If NH is just new leaf with a slightly different coat of paint than yeah no shit you’re going to be bored with it when you’ve played new leaf to death. Try playing a new new leaf save file for longer than 10 hours and see if it still holds up. It doesn’t and both games have the same problem. Acting like NH is somehow worse just cause it’s new it’s so stupid
Also if you don't like it leave? Thanks!