Needing advice please!

[Fallen-Reaper-Scythe]

Okay, I have practically restarted my island almost 10 times and thinking about doing it again. Why I keep restarting is mostly because I end up hating how the island ends up looking and I'm no where near as good as others when designing paths and I just hate the "atheistic" by the time I get 3 stars.

I finally caught the mahi mahi about a month or two ago and I don't want to drive myself nuts trying to get it again, though I have until October. I'm an impatient person though trying to work on it lol, failing, more like.

So, I'm in need of some advice about if I should restart or not. I'm at 5 stars as of a couple days ago but I'm bored of my island and don't really like how it came to be in the end. I've looked up island ideas on Google, reddit and Pinterest with no luck on layouts. I'm sorry if this post makes absolutely no sense but the point is that I always hate my islands and my inability to create anything I'd love and not want to always reset the game. Thank you for reading and any sort of advice you can give me. I don't have Nintendo online sadly which is a pain..

 

[Croconaw]

Well, what exactly do you hate about your island? You can change pretty much anything with terraforming. You need to consider the river mouth placement. I personally had two south river mouths and they were so hard to work with, but I managed. You should also consider the location of Resident Services and your Airport color. Everything else is changeable with a bit of terraforming. You can move villager homes, the shop, the tailor, and even the museum! It seems to me that you just prefer having a fresh start and it doesn't have anything to do with the island itself. Not having online is also a struggle.

Try not to compare your island to the islands you see online. Don't look at things and think "pretty thing that I cant do." People usually put their best work online, so don't compare someone's best work to something you are just starting. Work at your own pace.

 

[Fallen-Reaper-Scythe]

Well, what exactly do you hate about your island? You can change pretty much anything with terraforming. You need to consider the river mouth placement. I personally had two south river mouths and they were so hard to work with, but I managed. You should also consider the location of Resident Services and your Airport color. Everything else is changeable with a bit of terraforming. You can move villager homes, the shop, the tailor, and even the museum! It seems to me that you just prefer having a fresh start and it doesn't have anything to do with the island itself. Not having online is also a struggle.

Try not to compare your island to the islands you see online. Don't look at things and think "pretty thing that I cant do." People usually put their best work online, so don't compare someone's best work to something you are just starting. Work at your own pace.

After a while I just begin to hate the island name and/or character name. I'm also too impatient to rearrange everything again. I have also thought about doing the opposite hemisphere for something new. It is true I like having a fresh start with the islands but also want to have one to keep instead of constantly resetting it.

It's really frustrating not having online a lot of the times but oh well. Honestly if Nintendo makes a new game, we can have multiple islands on one switch so we can take a break and visit our other islands. That would be amazing. (Nevermind the fact that some people have more than one switch, I'm nearly in the same boat lol)

I've tried to look up how to create decent custom paths but get confused and distracted by other things.

 

[CylieDanny]

Hi! I have some advise, feel free to pm me. I'll be happy to help you!

Spoiler: I got carried away

number 1 thing I would advise, is to NOT start over, mostly because nothing will change aside from resident services. Since all islands are the same size, and once you get terrifoarming you can take down, and build up what you want.

So once you realize that, the only thing thats different is island name, island character name, and the resident services building. So in my opinion theres really no point, esspecially going through the whole beggining process. I dont know how people can go through that more then twice.

Ive lived with my island named Fugiree, an obscure name that was intended for a horror element. Then my character Kobe, who I realized recently is named after a character from a horror manga. My island is a bright fandom mess xD theres no horror elements unless you count Danganronpa. Its been so many things.

Heres how I advise going about things. Name your character something you can live with, and like. Sometimes naming them after a long term fandom character is good, but is a genuinely neutral name. I find naming your rep after a long term fandom not a fandom youve loved for like a year or like a month. I have so many rpg characters named Kokichi xD But I love Ouma. Its my default name for anything.

If you stay to the same name you've been using, it might drag out your need to restart. Because it feels like the orginality is fadding. In general at this pount you really wanna stick to orginalty.

Island name wise, well I don't have much advise because what ever you name your island is what you got. Its not that you have to stay to that name. Ive seen some stunning islands with names that dont fit. So? Its just a name. Id have a horror island if I stuck to that whole fitting in shinanagin.
I feel like some people who go in with an island theme in mind get over whelmed and pressured into sayisfying or living up to that name. Heres what my island has gone through:

-Grim
-Lake
-South Park (Yep, and its not even named South Park)
-Castlecore
-Fandom mess.

Probably others but I have never started over. So seriously. Don't fret about the name. Your pressuring yourself into thinking about a name to fit your island and thats probably putting peer preasure and making you hate your island. So what ever you name it, dont let a single name stress you out. It can be called flower paradise, and turn out to be a space island. Up to you.
--
Now the second most vital advice I can give is dont go in with a theme in mind, or a direct idea on what you want to do, this can lead to hate of your island in some cases.

Because like the island name, if you go in wanting one thing but get super stressed thinking about living up to a theme, then ya. Your gonna go in and feel preasured to do what others invision a theme to look like, and not what you want.

So going in with an open mind with no theme in mind is what can build you up to slowly loving your island. You might hate it now, but if you take expectations from yourself then its easier. So in all honestly flattening it might be good. Cause you've got a blank canvas.

Over whelming? Yes. No walls holding you back? Yes. Then step back and think about what you want. Me, I did that and I put myself upon a big project because I wanted a castle xD. I had a mini castle around my house in castle core so I wanted a bigger one and it ended up being Arendelle. Which I love xD. It all the way on my other side of my island and the rest of my island was blank. Then it went on from there. So my geeky island was born.
--
So one other thing that cause people to dislike is their peeps on the island.

Honestly having your dream crew can really make your island more bareable for yourself. If you have ten villagers you love then you will probably not start over. Dont feel preasured to have certain ones, or one of every personality. I mean I have all male villagers. I wouldn't change them for the world.

Take a look at villagers or making a hunting list for who you are intetested in, and save up nmts for hunting or get some from other sources.

Finding who your dream ten isnt easy, but when you do your island will be much more brighter for your self. So I advise looking into who you like or who your interested in finding.
--
So thats kinda long but thats my advise. Its from my experence and personal opinions. Hope it helps,

And remember whatever your island turns out to be, it will be your masterpiece!

 

[LateGamer]

Loved reading the great advice from Croconaw and CylieDanny. I hope it helps you. I suffer from the opposite issue. I have done zero terraforming. My island is at a 4 and it looks like it may stay at that rating since I seem to have a fear of doing any terraforming. I don’t know what I am doing and don’t want to mess up all of the hard work I’ve put in to date. I applaud you Fallen-Reaper-Scythe for having the ability to just scrap it all and start over. I hope their advice will help you decide what your next steps will be. Be sure to let us know once you’ve decided if you are starting over or as the above posters have encouraged….looking at your current island from a different perspective and moving ahead from there.

 

[TN4U]

Yes, naming things is hard and dumb sometimes, especially if you can't change it later. Some things also matter too when it comes to placement of things and native fruit.

Not to scare you, but it can be very time consuming to get an island layout you exactly want. Take it from me - I wanted an island with either a blue or yellow airport, centered resident services (aka if you lay down a 2x2 path straight from the airport entrance to resident services it lines up perfectly with the doors), and apples as my native fruit (it shows up on your passport). I did not care about starting villagers or flowers since I could always change those. Placement of river mouths, the grass outlet to the ocean, and the private beach also vary from island to island, as well as Kapp'n's dock. It took me well over 30 times of quitting the game and restarting until I got the layout I wanted. Am I completely satisfied with it? Mostly, but not completely. I would rather have one of my river mouths be on the East or West side, but the fact that my resident services was centered WITH apples as my native fruit and a blue airport was good enough for me to keep it.

As for naming the island, what I would suggest is first starting with a random town name generator, and picking names you like and compile them into a list. Look over them, and start eliminating names that you are not completely satisfied with. When you narrow it down to less than five names or so, pick the one you think would work best for you. I would highly suggest this be the first step if you want to restart as it will save you headaches when you find the perfect layout and get to naming it. I believe the character limit is 10 to 12, so keep that in mind.

Here's a quick list I compiled of things you can and cannot change later to an island once it's created:

Things You Cannot Change:

• Resident Services placement
• River mouth placements
• Private beach placement (where Redd docks)
• Grassy outlet placement (the strip of land that extends slightly into the ocean)
• Kapp'n dock placement
• Airport color & placement
• Island name
• Player name & birthday
• Native fruit (the fruit that shows up on your passport and can buy from Nook's Cranny)
• Sister fruit (the fruit other than the native fruit that appears on mystery island tours, excluding coconuts)
• Native and sister flowers (not a huge factor; AFAIK this is chosen depending on the birthday you set and when you created the island, only matters if you want to easily buy bags of them at Nook's Cranny)

Things You CAN Change:

• Villagers (and their houses if HHP is purchased)
• Placements of all houses, shops, museum & campsite
• Player appearance & gender (use mirrors & vanities)

Hopefully that is of use to you if you want to restart. Remember, if you don't like what Timmy & Tommy offer to you at the airport, close the game and restart it. The island will automatically start saving once you talk to K.K. in your dream.

And yes, some fish and bugs are a pain to catch. You can always catch them another time, even the ones that seem difficult (like the Stringfish, which I consider rarer than the Coelacanth). If you have the patience and refuse to time travel, you'll eventually be able to catch them all. I didn't fully complete my museum with bugs, fish & deep sea creatures until a year after I started playing the game. Yes, it's very satisfying to see a completed museum, especially when it looks 10x better in this game compared to older titles.

In short, yes, it is difficult to fully commit to an island once you first create it. Pace yourself, and try not to rush everything. That is how Animal Crossing is meant to be played.

 

[Fallen-Reaper-Scythe]

Update:

I did decide to restart my island and it seems my switch lite has decided to want to retire. I may have to restart anyway soon. If not, I can still have a spare I guess which is good?

 

[TN4U]

Update:

I did decide to restart my island and it seems my switch lite has decided to want to retire. I may have to restart anyway soon. If not, I can still have a spare I guess which is good?

There's always the option to transfer islands from one console to another. I don't believe that requires Online but I could be completely wrong.