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New Horizons feels like a discount New Leaf

like i said to someone else above, you can critique something and still enjoy it. you can dislike aspects of something (or even the majority of it) and enjoy other parts. it's not black and white.

So well put. Many people (even irl with me) don't get this concept. I can call out the flaws for something and still enjoy it. People think that I "hate everything" simply because I give critique. I love Animal Crossing. If I didn't I wouldn't play it. It is because of that love for the series that I wish it could be the best game it can be.
 
So well put. Many people (even irl with me) don't get this concept. I can call out the flaws for something and still enjoy it. People think that I "hate everything" simply because I give critique. I love Animal Crossing. If I didn't I wouldn't play it. It is because of that love for the series that I wish it could be the best game it can be.

Very well said.
If any game is not acceptable in 100% there's no reason to buy and play. Sure, there are small percentage of players bought a game (any) and had a different hopes what leads to disappointment - but I wonder if those players will want to join community (as forums) and continuously play.

Most of the criticism are result of expectations related to improvements, simply: "we players, want this games to be much better".

Many of us had a previous experience with older (AC) games and their expectations was grown for years.

Let's compare some aspects:

1. Original AC (GC) - player has 15 villagers. Console (GC) has limited power 20 years ago, but this power was sufficient to give such amount of existing villagers. Now, 20 years later, with new (newest) console, much powerful we got just 10 villagers. Shall we accept it? Maybe it's enough for some players, but not enough for others.

2. General compare to older titles, like New Leaf - when some players trying to say: "We got something in NL and this not existing in NH" - very often got the answer like this: "But, this is not NL, is not a NL 2" - yes, I agree... however, some game elements are just pure "copy & paste" from older games. For example: we had a "Christmas lights" on trees during the festive season in GC, there were existing in NL... and we got those again.
Let me understand, sometimes if it's convenient it's not the same game, but sometimes does?

3. I'm not denying NH gave us new features, and terraforming, placing items outside, better graphics etc. is something what not requires complains, however if needs to be "polished", why not to address any issues?
 
I mean I personally feel like New Leaf was the game that removed the charm from the series 🙈 (that and City Folk’s wrecked villagers)
Don’t get me wrong, I loved it. But it’s the game that removed the NPC backstory, it’s the game that removed interacting with NPCs just for the life sim aspects (Getting to know Brewster, getting to know Sable, Blathers and Nook opening up to you randomly, heck Wild World’s golden axe trading event involved learning a lot. Was the whole story of Pete, Pelly and Phyllis in New Leaf? I don’t remember unlocking it. ‘Talking to myself’, ‘Message of the week’)

New Leaf has a lotttttt of items, things to unlock, and new items to get with the things you unlock. It’s an amazing game but it was mainly about quantity
 
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I mean I personally feel like New Leaf was the game that removed the charm from the series 🙈 (that and City Folk’s wrecked villagers)
Don’t get me wrong, I loved it. But it’s the game that removed the NPC backstory, it’s the game that removed interacting with NPCs just for the life sim aspects (Getting to know Brewster, getting to know Sable, Blathers and Nook opening up to you randomly, heck Wild World’s golden axe trading event involved learning a lot)

New Leaf has a lotttttt of items, things to unlock, and new items to get with the things you unlock. It’s an amazing game but it was mainly about quantity

I wish I could have enough time, or enough time in the every single day to play and finally compare all AC games.
I do understand, sim-aspect of the game is not really achieved, but if the necessary depth has been achieved once, why not to continue and work towards it?
I'm not expecting everything has to be the same in every single game, but if something is really good, why not to add some more and more?
 
[Reminder that these opinions are about the game as of writing this post, not how it is/we hope it's going to be in the future.]

For a game with such a heavy emphasis on decoration, they dashed a lot of the decorative aspects for NH. The exotic and perfect fruits are gone, we're missing some flowers (no carnations or violets), you can't change the exteriors of your homes, etc. Ordinances, which were such a significant change... are gone as well, leaving a highly customizable experience that much less custom.

The gutting of holidays is another thing I didn't like. And I don't just mean the ones they're adding back in. It feels like an unhappy compromise between WW's "Let's take out the standard holidays and make up some universal ones to globalize the game!" and NL's "Let's add them all back in and then some to globalize the game!". So far the updates have been only for major, recognizable western holidays like Christmas, Thanksgiving, and Halloween. I'm not complaining since I love those days, but I miss going to overseas villages to get items for Setsubun, Obon, or Earth Day. I know they were just Isabelle item dispensers, but it made AC as a whole feel more international if that makes sense. I also miss minor holidays like Valentine's and the Equinox/Solstice. And the Face-Cutout Standees. I miss the Face-Cutout Standees.

I miss all of the furniture. I know, big surprise. ACNL had a really cute thing going with all of the tabletop and 1 tile 'clutter' objects that gave life to rooms they were placed in. ACNH's current selection is so rigid. I know the art direction of New Horizons was dollhouse/toy chic, but good Lord. Even the most elaborate, thoughtful islands and homes look like dioramas to me. And though I appreciated the redesigns of the Jack/Spooky and Harvest sets to make them look less silly, they only went from looking like a children's toy set to a srs bsn adult collector's toy set. At this point, I think I'd prefer the gaudy purple and pink and pumpkin stuff back.
 
For a game with such a heavy emphasis on decoration, they dashed a lot of the decorative aspects for NH. The exotic and perfect fruits are gone, we're missing some flowers (no carnations or violets), you can't change the exteriors of your homes, etc. Ordinances, which were such a significant change... are gone as well, leaving a highly customizable experience that much less custom.

Exotic and perfect fruits. Those are been already implemented, and we know for sure, developers know how to do this.
Creating extra fruit (with same rules: own (cheapest fruit), coconuts (medium price) and remaining (high price)) wouldn't be a big effort. Comparing complexity of different objects, extra fruits it's not a challenge. Same with flowers, rules for flowers (breeding and cross-breeding) are set already, why not to have some more with more variety?
Ordinances... I think, in NH we have less power than we had in NL. Tom Nook is a unquestionable ruler of our island, and we are just "island representative", with limited power.
 
when some players trying to say: "We got something in NL and this not existing in NH" - very often got the answer like this: "But, this is not NL, is not a NL 2" - yes, I agree...

Honestly, that response that is given is infuriating, because it's so illogical. It's not a New Leaf 2, BUT, it is the next iteration of Animal Crossing.

If we complained about public work projects being gone... fine, it's not New Leaf 2 - PWPs were a core feature of New Leaf. If we complained about the train station being gone, or the town tree. Again, sure, it's not New Leaf 2, the argument makes sense there. If we complained in New Leaf that the city was gone, fine, saying it's not City Folk 2 is a valid response. But when we complain about basic things that are missing "oh this is not New Leaf 2" quite frankly becomes nothing more than a phrase you can pull out whenever someone criticizes New Horizons for a lack of content.

I don't think people see things like the lack of the campsite from the Welcome Amiibo update as a con of New Leaf. That felt like a very "New Leaf" thing and no one expected to see it again.

The complaints about the lack of content come from things that are seen as the "next step in Animal Crossing" but were reverted or left out in New Horizons.
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And actually, funnily enough - New Horizons and New Leaf are the only games in the series to have names that are so similar to each other. Wild World. City Folk (or Let's Go to the City). Pocket Camp? Happy Home Designer. Amiibo Festival, lol. From the name alone it's an obvious allusion to "New Leaf", so even though I don't think it's "New Leaf 2", to deny that it should build upon New Leaf is quite frankly ridiculous.
 
I definately miss the campground and the RV's as those amiibo items were awesome.

I think photopia is a tragic waste of a fantastic NPC.

Would love to see RV's return.
They could add them to Harv's island, and items could be bought with crook miles.

I mean, I have 700k crook miles and they are pointless to me, as there is nothing to spend them on (for me.).
 
I definately miss the campground and the RV's as those amiibo items were awesome.

I think photopia is a tragic waste of a fantastic NPC.

Would love to see RV's return.
They could add them to Harv's island, and items could be bought with crook miles.

I mean, I have 700k crook miles and they are pointless to me, as there is nothing to spend them on (for me.).

I mean, it was fun and nice, and I'd rather have it in NH than not if there was a choice - but I don't think anybody feels New Horizon is incomplete due to its absence (especially since it came so late in NL's life).
 
I mean, it was fun and nice, and I'd rather have it in NH than not if there was a choice - but I don't think anybody feels New Horizon is incomplete due to its absence (especially since it came so late in NL's life).
I have all the amiibo cards and figures, and know exactly what items came with them.

The RV cards (series 5) was a set of 50 cards.

Honestly, I can name a few hundred items (most of them customizable including food) I really miss, just off the top of my head, and the RV's provided a great deal of them.

I paid a lot for those amiibo's, and didn't think they would be a 'one and done' deal.

They should be more useful than what they are in NH.

Reguardless, I won't be happy unless we get some, if not all, the items back.

It's all well and good to give you an entire island with the option to put items outside, but then to omit so many items that would've been worthwhile putting outside is just baffling!

Imagine having all the food items, plants, furniture sets, totems, posts (pantheon etc) hay bales, tractor, crates, fairy bottles, beacon fire, poogie, zen chairs, box seat, luxury car, round beaded cushions, oh, the fancy tea set was also awesome.

I miss the brick counter, the bread making set, bread basket, cheese, tarts, cupcakes, veggie basket, stew pot, milk canisters, K.K.'s guitar case that clicked open, the interactive watermelon, etc.

Oh, pirate armor, and plate armor, jomon pottery, drip pail, wheat grass, sarcophagus, all the drums like timpano and conga, creepy bones, the merlion and african mask!

Mannequins.. the windmill, zen bell, trellis.

The HHD giant furniture.

So many items.
 
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I have all the amiibo cards and figures, and know exactly what items came with them.

The RV cards (series 5) was a set of 50 cards.

Honestly, I can name a few hundred items (most of them customizable including food) I really miss, just off the top of my head, and the RV's provided a great deal of them.

I paid a lot for those amiibo's, and didn't think they would be a 'one and done' deal.

They should be more useful than what they are in NH.

Reguardless, I won't be happy unless we get some, if not all, the items back.

It's all well and good to give you an entire island with the option to put items outside, but then to omit so many items that would've been worthwhile putting outside is just baffling!

Imagine having all the food items, plants, furniture sets, totems, posts (pantheon etc) hay bales, tractor, crates, fairy bottles, beacon fire, poogie, zen chairs, box seat, luxury car, round beaded cushions, oh, the fancy tea set was also awesome.

I miss the brick counter, the bread making set, bread basket, cheese, tarts, cupcakes, veggie basket, stew pot, milk canisters, K.K.'s guitar case that clicked open, the interactive watermelon, etc.

Oh, pirate armor, and plate armor, jomon pottery, drip pail, wheat grass, sarcophagus, all the drums like timpano and conga, creepy bones, the merlion and african mask!

Mannequins.. the windmill, zen bell, trellis.

The HHD giant furniture.

So many items.

Eh. Amiibo in general was underutilized by Nintendo. I've been disappointed with them from the start and I'm surprised the Switch even has amiibo functionality at all. I love amiibo - but sadly, after Smash 4, it felt like Nintendo was done with it from a gameplay perspective. I can't recall any amiibo that was more than little in-game bonuses. I'm sure they brought a lot of great items, and honestly I'd rather have them than not have them - but the amiibo stuff, for me at least, is a lot lower on the priority queue than some major elements that are not in NH.

But hey, maybe I feel that way because I didn't play much after the Welcome Amiibo update came out.
 
Those were just items off the top of my head, and not all amiibo.

I miss the real Gulliver items, and all the furniture sets.

Even items like the customizable stained glass is/are gone.
 
Sure, the game has a few considerable flaws, but it’s better than NL by a long shot. If you don’t like NH, don’t play. No one is forcing you to play it. There’s a rant thread for a reason.
 
Sure, the game has a few considerable flaws, but it’s better than NL by a long shot. If you don’t like NH, don’t play. No one is forcing you to play it.

if you're not going to actually read the thread and the perfectly fair criticisms people gave, and/or even try to share your own POV politely, maybe don't submit your needlessly provocative reply.
 
if you're not going to actually read the thread and the perfectly fair criticisms people gave, and/or even try to share your own POV politely, maybe don't submit your needlessly provocative reply.

You can have your opinion, and I can have mine. This is a public forum. Have a nice day❤️
 
Sure, the game has a few considerable flaws, but it’s better than NL by a long shot. If you don’t like NH, don’t play. No one is forcing you to play it. There’s a rant thread for a reason.
So sick of this sort of reply. -> 'Don't play it if you don't like it'. :-|

It's absurd.

Just because we want/expect more from a series we've played for over a decade and a half, doesn't mean we don't like it!

If we didn't care about the game, we wouldn't bother criticising it's shortcomings, because we wouldn't give a crap. :-/

Also, opinions that aren't positive aren't limited to the rant thread.
 
You can have your opinion, and I can have mine. This is a public forum. Have a nice day❤

aggressively telling people not to play a game they might enjoy other parts of just because you don't understand the concept of being able to criticize something you like isn't an "opinion", it's just flat-out rude actually.
 
And actually, funnily enough - New Horizons and New Leaf are the only games in the series to have names that are so similar to each other. Wild World. City Folk (or Let's Go to the City). Pocket Camp? Happy Home Designer. Amiibo Festival, lol. From the name alone it's an obvious allusion to "New Leaf", so even though I don't think it's "New Leaf 2", to deny that it should build upon New Leaf is quite frankly ridiculous.
That's only the localized name for the english release. It's Animal Crossing: Jump Out (it's on the 3DS) and Animal Crossing: Gather (you can play at the same time on a Switch) which have no relation.
 
That's only the localized name for the english release. It's Animal Crossing: Jump Out (it's on the 3DS) and Animal Crossing: Gather (you can play at the same time on a Switch) which have no relation.

Ah, I forgot to check out the Japanese names. Wasn't a major point of mines, but thanks for clarifying.
 
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