New Horizons is being compared to the wrong game and I think it's causing a lot of frustration

[John Wick]

Out of pure curiosity, I just gotta ask... what’s your deal? Do you still play NH? If so, why do you still play a game where not a single thing you do in it is fun and it gives you a feeling of dread? And if you don’t still play NH, why are you always on this forum posting about why you dislike a game you don’t play?

I wish I could communicate my tone of voice over the internet, because I’m seriously not intending to ask that I’m a rude or badgering way. I’m just genuinely curious! I’ve just lurked on this forum for a while, and I’m not sure I’ve ever seen you post anything positive about NH, so I’m just wondering what you’re getting out of all this.

I've explained it many times.

I posted my opinion.

And for the record, I'm currently taking a break and my wife is playing it.

I held out for a year, waiting for something good, and there hasn't been anything added that makes me want to play it.

I held out, because I've been playing AC for sixteen years, and love the series.

I post positive things about the game when I find something I like.

So if my every post isn't gushing over the game, it's because there hasn't been much to gush about. (And I'm a grown man. I don't gush.)

It's very simple and I shouldn't have to explain myself just because I'm not bubbling with positivity.

I'm honest, and that's all.

 

[Matt0106]

I'm looking at it as an AC game, and it really doesn't feel like one.

For me, I'm sick of trying to force myself to like this the way I've enjoyed all the other AC games, in the hopes it will improve.

It's missing the fun, not just content.

It's just not a fun game.

Not one single thing you do (for me), is fun.

Grind, grind and grind some more.

I avoid fishing and bug catching because I loathe crafting and customizing tools so they don't break.

The game is the opposite of a fun relaxing game.

I used to get up early, and was actually excited to play NL.

There is no excitement in NH.

Just a heart sinking feeling of dread.

I'm not renewing my nintendo online account, and won't be buying another AC game.

I'm about done.

If a game is causing as much distress as I've seen it cause you for a while now, then maybe take a break! Perhaps a remedy that since the updates are small (as of now), maybe it would be beneficial to wait until Nintendo has dropped a couple, and only play then so that the game will feel larger? I don't know, I have just noticed that usually you seem distraught with the game and are always insisting on leaving it, so maybe now is the time to; NOT permanently of course (I won't be one of those people saying "JUST LEAVE THEN"), but maybe until Nintendo brings back some of the content you're looking for.

And if this content doesn't return, well, then you'll have decide if it's worth sticking around if it's making you this upset. It's fine to be disappointed in something when you're very passionate about it, but perhaps that energy could be put towards another game that will bring you joy!

EDIT: Just saw that you said you are taking a break. Ignore this comment!

 

[John Wick]

If a game is causing as much distress as I've seen it cause you for a while now, then maybe take a break! Perhaps a remedy that since the updates are small (as of now), maybe it would be beneficial to wait until Nintendo has dropped a couple, and only play then so that the game will feel larger? I don't know, I have just noticed that usually you seem distraught with the game and are always insisting on leaving it, so maybe now is the time to; NOT permanently of course (I won't be one of those people saying "JUST LEAVE THEN"), but maybe until Nintendo brings back some of the content you're looking for.

And if this content doesn't return, well, then you'll have decide if it's worth sticking around if it's making you this upset. It's fine to be disappointed in something when you're very passionate about it, but perhaps that energy could be put towards another game that will bring you joy!

EDIT: Just saw that you said you are taking a break. Ignore this comment!

Yep. Glad you saw that I am taking a break.

I wanted to delete the game, and my wife is now the one holding out hope.

Also, I bought a switch for ACNH.
I am not interested in other games.

Perhaps nintendo should bring it up to the standards of previous titles so that the many of us that aren't 100% over the moon about it, will want to play it again, instead of people like me being criticised for not enjoying it as much as others.

I'm not at fault here.

 

[MiniPocketWorld]

From what ive seen in the forums NH appears to be alot different than past animal crossing console games. Maybe NH just isn't for some people. I know myself, i never had interest in animal crossing until i saw what they advertized for NH. Crafting is what got my attention.
Sure there are issues even I recognize on my own such as the bulk crafting not being a thing and the way they make us terraform compared to other world building games... But if you dislike NH in general or feel its a bad game, maybe its just not for you. Like, the audience shifted. This isnt to say it doesnt need fixed.. But reality is when people play the same game, they play it for different reasons. Nintendo has always been about changing things up. When they do so something what tends to happen unintentionally is that people fall out of the audience.
There have been pokemon games I really dislike to where I dont play them and stopped playing them soon after purchase or i plain out did not buy them at all. Because I didnt like them. They werent for me because the audiences changed... Or maybe i changed. People do get older, change minds or resistet change in a changing world.
Some pokemon games I felt were "bad games". They sold well and lot of people played them. Some of them are favoriates of people. There were some things I liked in them but not enough for me to enjoy the game or like it. They werent bad games in reality but because i was outside the target audience when i was technically in the target audience they were bad games to me. The mark or goal fell short. Maybe to some people it was totally missed.

However i went on to other games i liked or to see if i liked them unrelated to pokemon. Even looked at other games that were similar to pokemon. Some i loved some not so much lol. But i may not have discovered them otherwise.

Later pokemon games hit closer to what I was looking for so I bought some played them enjoyed them but not as much as the loved ones in the past dropped them and moved on and understood they were for me but not up to my expectation or most wants and thats ok.

I just hope things like this can be recognized and perhaps a total walkaway or dislike of something loved like animal crossing doesnt happen. The good thing about ACNH, unlike my games I played, acnh has the chance and opportunity for updates, expansion and fixes. Plus it technically isnt even the full game right now. Nintendo likes to move slow and always has and i feel like we often forget that. Esp if the only game you are playing is animal crossing. I think its good to have a minimum of 2-3 games to play you haven't beat/gotten tired of.

 

[LoyalDragonfly]

Interesting topic, OP. I had considered NH an expanded version of Pocket Camp + HHD for a while, now, due to it's main focus on crafting and design. However, I never actually owned HHD, so it was interesting to read about the features and mechanics of that game... it seems even more now that they used that game as a springboard of sorts for NH's core gameplay and design philosophy.

Like you, I also have a lot of NL pictures that I've saved over the years... similarly, most of my pictures do not involve 'scenery' or shots of my town or home decorations, even though I do spend quite a lot of time working on both my town and my home. Almost all of my pictures are conversations between villagers, or funny/cute villager dialogue with my characters.

Honestly, I feel like there are a few reasons why NH exploded like it did, while HHD has been more of a 'niche' game (at least, that's how I've always felt about it).

1) Switch vs Wii U
I think it's sort of glossed over when people get excited about how amazingly NH has sold, but the Switch is just a wildly successful console. Tons of people own Switches (over 70 million consoles were sold worldwide, at this point). It's an amazing 'family-friendly' console. Any 'mainline' Nintendo game (of which I'd count AC) that comes on the Switch is going to sell like hotcakes. And AC was a perfect game to gift during the holiday season, too. I understand that HHD was always meant to be a spin-off while NH was marketed as a mainline AC game, but my hot take is that if NH was released during the time of the Wii U, it wouldn't have been as successful.

2) Expectations of a Spin-Off vs a Mainline Game
Nintendo was absolutely crystal clear in their marketing for HHD that it was a 100% design-oriented game. In my own personal experience, I saw HHD advertisements and info, and was able to very quickly make an informed decision that it wasn't a game for me... so I never bothered with it. I'm sure others felt the same way. However, with NH, there was very little information on what the game was actually going to be like before its release (this is a problem I have with a lot of games, nowadays...). Judging by the one or two trailers we got before release, I could only assume it was going to be a regular mainline Animal Crossing game, albeit with some crafting. The point where they presented the game as if it were going to follow the same trend that all the previous mainline games were following is the point where my expectations started to form. Because they marketed it as the next mainline game, I expected it was going to take the already-successful AC formula made nearly perfect in NL, polish the features and gameplay, and just add a little crafting to supplement the depth of furniture carried forward from game to game in the series. So when they, instead, cut features from NL (and other AC games preceding it) and went off in a completely different direction, I was blindsided. I wasn't able to make the same informed decision that I could for HHD. If I had known then what I did now, I would not have been so eager to buy the game.

3) Marketing
This kind of ties in with 1 and 2, but by the time NH rolled around, we were already deep in the pandemic. Aside from this, Nintendo had, at this point, realized that Animal Crossing was already considered a wholesome game by the Internet. So... it was like the perfect storm. With so many people owning Switches, it was easy to market NH as an escape from the troubles of the real world, where people could hang out with one another and socialize from the comfort and safety of their homes. The game being tailor made for sharing beautiful towns and wholesome scenes on social media made for even better advertising, as well.

 

[Michelangelo]

NH is its own thing, but I still believe it should be compared to its predecessors, especially NL.

I think comparing the games is what's making some people dislike NH. What's happening is, instead of people enjoying the game for what it is on its own, people are looking for what's missing and what's bad in comparison to older games. When that happens, that only leads to disappointment. It's natural to compare things here and there. But in this case, to get the most enjoyment out of this game, have fun with what it offers.

 

[Roaldisthebest]

I guess we’re pretty much in the minority in this boat but I also think NH is a lot more aligned with my playstyle than NL ever was. Of course, I played NL for as long as I could (years and years) and thoroughly enjoyed it. On the other hand, I also have complaints about NH and some parts of this iteration I’m not exactly a fan of (lack of mini games a la Tortimer’s island, the hourly music, the piece meal updates, the forced trading and forced online membership) but generally, I do prefer NH than NL. For me, NH is not an HHD successor, but rather NL without the hassle. In my case, this game has been able to address issues I had with NL and gave me more freedom and control to enjoy the game more (no more grass wear, flowers don’t die, trees can be replanted, balloons have actual items I can use and not just weird looking balloon series items, villagers don’t move without asking, I can hunt for villagers when I have a free spot, I can invite villagers from the campsite even if my island is full, villagers don’t judge you if you time travel because honestly I have a real life and I can’t play everyday so I go back on events I missed) and so I play it with less stress and more enjoyment.

For the villager dialogue, another unpopular opinion but I don’t have a problem with NH on this regard. I must be lucky or my game must be weird because I always get unique dialogues. However, I’m the type to speak a lot to my villagers and I am best friends with almost all of them and have their photos so that must be why. I also make sure to maintain a balanced personality range in my island and for duplicate personalities, I make sure they’re of different subtypes so that might also be a factor. I also don’t see a problem with the dialogue progression in the game where more unique dialogues only open up later as you get more friendly with the villagers. I think it’s a nice touch that makes the game more of a life sim and gives incentive to people who like this aspect of the game since you have to really work towards getting to know your villagers.

Overall, I do think that the game brings a lot of different experiences to different people and that’s why opinions do differ. I think every game in the AC series though have their own unique charms and appeal to varying playstyles depending on the person playing.

yo i'm pretty sure the way it's designed is that the first/second chat you have with a villager on that day is pretty basic stuff like asking about fossils or the HHA but after that you get interesting things. ppl are always saying they are way too repetitive but it seems that they only chat once a day anyway.... the NH dialogue could still be improved however but it is not worse than New Leaf imo

 

[Feunard]

I guess we’re pretty much in the minority in this boat but I also think NH is a lot more aligned with my playstyle than NL ever was. Of course, I played NL for as long as I could (years and years) and thoroughly enjoyed it. On the other hand, I also have complaints about NH and some parts of this iteration I’m not exactly a fan of (lack of mini games a la Tortimer’s island, the hourly music, the piece meal updates, the forced trading and forced online membership) but generally, I do prefer NH than NL. For me, NH is not an HHD successor, but rather NL without the hassle. In my case, this game has been able to address issues I had with NL and gave me more freedom and control to enjoy the game more (no more grass wear, flowers don’t die, trees can be replanted, balloons have actual items I can use and not just weird looking balloon series items, villagers don’t move without asking, I can hunt for villagers when I have a free spot, I can invite villagers from the campsite even if my island is full, villagers don’t judge you if you time travel because honestly I have a real life and I can’t play everyday so I go back on events I missed) and so I play it with less stress and more enjoyment.

For the villager dialogue, another unpopular opinion but I don’t have a problem with NH on this regard. I must be lucky or my game must be weird because I always get unique dialogues. However, I’m the type to speak a lot to my villagers and I am best friends with almost all of them and have their photos so that must be why. I also make sure to maintain a balanced personality range in my island and for duplicate personalities, I make sure they’re of different subtypes so that might also be a factor. I also don’t see a problem with the dialogue progression in the game where more unique dialogues only open up later as you get more friendly with the villagers. I think it’s a nice touch that makes the game more of a life sim and gives incentive to people who like this aspect of the game since you have to really work towards getting to know your villagers.

Overall, I do think that the game brings a lot of different experiences to different people and that’s why opinions do differ. I think every game in the AC series though have their own unique charms and appeal to varying playstyles depending on the person playing.

I agree with you, especially for the dialogue part! I thought I was the only one to like it. I actually don’t know if my villagers with the same personalities belong to different subtypes but they seem to have slightly different dialogue so maybe they are. However, I was wandering if you could explain to me how to understand which villager belongs to which personality subtype, as I’d like to change some of my villagers.

 

[MidnightAura]

New leaf has more dialogue than New horizons.
I have Klaus and Marshal in New leaf, the only thing they say that’s identical is you look as bold as a fair number of cucumbers.I can’t predict what their initial conversation will be with me and they don’t repeat or mirror each other.
In NH I have Winnie and Tangy snd their dialogue is clones of each other. If I speak to them one after the other they say the exact same thing in the exact same order.

 

[moon_child]

I agree with you, especially for the dialogue part! I thought I was the only one to like it. I actually don’t know if my villagers with the same personalities belong to different subtypes but they seem to have slightly different dialogue so maybe they are. However, I was wandering if you could explain to me how to understand which villager belongs to which personality subtype, as I’d like to change some of my villagers.

Hello there, I referred to this link from Reddit for the subtypes.

https://www.reddit.com/r/ac_newhorizons/comments/gb0asi

 

[Feunard]

Hello there, I referred to this link from Reddit for the subtypes.

https://www.reddit.com/r/ac_newhorizons/comments/gb0asi

Thank you!!

 

[Mu~]

I hope they let us decorate our villagers' houses and let us place rugs outside at some point, then.

 

[Manah]

If we're comparing it to HHD, the lack of furniture variety becomes even more evident, especially when it come to all the small items. I actually had some rooms in HHD that I wanted to recreate in NH, but it'simpossible to make anything that's even close.

I'm not comparing it to HHD though because it's a mainline game. For a mainline game, based on what mainline games were like before NH I expected a life sim, but what I got was almost exclusively a building game.