New to Animal Crossing…Is this really my game?

[kittyaerin]

Hi everyone! I only recently got into Animal Crossing (barely a year in) because people told me it’s a very chill and relaxing game (I have anxiety and OCD) so I should pick it up and check it out. I’ve been playing farming games and enjoy Harvest Moon, Rune Factory and Stardew Valley type games a lot so I said maybe I’ll enjoy this cute game too. So I got myself a copy and then started playing. I was excited to start my own island with a map I liked and peaches as my native fruit and the cute little yellow airport because those are my favorites. When I started my game, I had to reset a good 20 amount of times to find a map with that combination but couldn’t find one. I was starting to get annoyed and tired of doing the same things over and over so I settled for an island with cherries and a green airport that doesn’t seem to go well with my flag because it’s so neon. I also had to endure two starting villagers, one of them was an eagle who I barely spoke to because I have real life phobia of birds but apparently, I was stuck with that villager until they ask to leave or something. That eagle never wanted to leave either. I wanted to decorate a lot but I can’t because same things keep appearing at my shops for sale and I get duplicate DIYs on the beach every three days or so. I also failed to join the happy festivities because you apparently can only play them on the day of and well, of course I celebrated those holidays in real life with real people instead of opening a game so I missed Halloween and I missed Christmas. I told myself okay I’ll give it a few more months. This game must be very popular for a reason. Several months after and here I am, still wondering when I can chill and relax in this game. I’ve spent my Animal Crossing life as an island representative of an island that has native fruits I don’t even eat, with an airport color that I wouldn’t even wear, living with animals that will make me run away faster than a speeding bullet if I see them in real life. Not only that but I have to play it everyday to collect items and check the trees and ballon for furnitures and I have to remember to not miss playing it too when there are real life festivities so I don’t miss out again. All these things are now making me think…is this MY game? Or the other way around? Do I control this or does it control me? When I got into Animal Crossing I expected RNG but is it really THIS MUCH RNG?

How do you guys find a way around all these sorts of RNG? And is there a way to make the game feel like it’s actually MY game and not Nintendo’s? I found out I can’t change my airport color. And I can plant my favorite fruit tree but my passport will still have my native fruit that I hate. I work a full time job so I don’t have the luxury to play the game everyday. I wanna be able to play the game for a long time when I do have the time, since you know, I paid for it and I own it but there’s nothing to do because it runs on real time. I can time travel but it’ll mess up the dates on the badges. At this point this feels like a game someone else owns and I just play on it instead of it being my game. I just feel so helpless about this because I think I’ve given it enough time and chances for me to learn to love the game but how can I do that when it feels more like an obligation than a hobby? Or should I really just quit the game altogether?

 

[azurill]

I don’t think you should quit just yet. It sounds like you really don’t like your island. The one thing I wish I could change about my island is the airport color. I would rather have blue but too late in the game to reset for that. If I were you I would reset your island and try for a yellow airport with peaches. It really is a pain trying to get what you want but I think you will feel better about your island. You also don’t have to play events on that day I almost never do because of time , work , family things . I change the switch clock back to the the event so I can play the events on my time and actually enjoy them. The game can be very chill but it takes awhile before you get everything you want. If there is anything you don’t want to wait for you can trade for items here.

 

[QueenCobra]

This is my first AC game too and I ended up enjoying it. I like chatting up my villagers and gathering animals for the museum— so I would definitely do more of that of you haven’t already.

 

[tiffanistarr]

It honestly sounds like you went into the game with very high expectations. Is there a reason you are so set on getting a specific airport color and fruit?

It also seems like you are taking it a little too serious. There have been tons of times where I put way too much stock into my island. It also can get overwhelming and anxiety inducing when you compare your island to other peoples. I watch some animal crossing youtubers and i would get so jealous of their progress and ability to do things because I also work full time. Now that I’ve stopped comparing myself to everyone else, the game got a lot more fun.

If I were in your position I would reset my island and get my desired fruit and airport. Especially if that means a lot to you and your plans. It sounds like you don’t like your island so why not just give it another go with some different perspectives!

As far as your starter villagers go, I would say 8 times out of 10 they are going to be villagers you don’t like or want to have. Just trek a long with them until you find a replacement. Eventually they will want to move out and you can let them move on and get a villager you would rather have.

Also, as far as getting certain items you can always trade here or post to find certain things here in the forum. There are so many lovely people on here that are very generous and will help. Use this website https://villagerdb.com/ to create a wishlist of the items you want.

Do you have NSO? If you decide to reset you are free to come to my island and take advantage of my DIY hoard that I have!

 

[Neprezi]

Animal crossing has always been a game where you cannot control everything. In the first 3 games in the series you could not control basically anything, you could not choose where villagers homes were, you could not build structures in the town, you couldn't even really control what villagers you had.

Animal crossing is not a sandbox game where you get to choose every little aspect of your town. Playing as you are now is an exercise in frustration, and honestly learning to love your town despite it's little quirks and imperfections is part of the joy of the game. I think you're getting way too hung up on little details and not allowing yourself to actually enjoy the game.

 

[Nunnafinga]

This game is what you make it....it can be a difficult slog or a fun pastime.You have to find things in the game that make it fun for you and not get so hung up on the things you can't control.However,if you find it too difficult to deal with the parameters set by game's design then it just might not be for you.There are a lot of things in ACNH that annoy me but,although it might sound weird,finding ways to get around those annoying things is part of the fun for me.Like azurill said maybe you might want to reset your island but take the time to get the things you really want so you can get a fresh start and not feel like you compromised too much.I also work a full time job but I see the game as an escape from the daily drudgery and it's always been somewhat therapeutic for me.

 

[Belle T]

I think a big thing with Animal Crossing and especially New Horizons is that making it feel like "your game" as you put it is a reward for long hours of tedium. And of all the games, New Horizons definitely suffers the most from frequent roadblocks that force you to wait entire days in order to progress. And the DIY system is... unfortunately lacking. There are also a significant number of quality of life improvements that Nintendo had plenty of time to implement with this game, but just... really didn't.

The main thing I notice with your dilemma is that you're essentially trying to cram the game into a very specific genre, when it's pretty much never going to be like Stardew Valley or any games of that type, though I would argue some of the things you mentioned aren't really things you can do in those games, either. The game is patently about and was advertised back in the GameCube era as a game that plays out in real time, even when you don't. So while I can more than empathize with the fact that it's not very respectful of your time, to do it any other way is honestly very counterproductive to its design philosophy. It's simply not a game like Stardew Valley, where you can go through multiple years in a single day without having to resort to exploits and fiddling with the back end of your console.

In concept--not so much in practice but I digress--you're intended to get to know your villagers and befriend them and hopefully grow attached to them, or at least as attached as you can be to a piece of data on a computer. So by design, you're not going to have an easy time getting villagers to leave. After all, the island is intended to be their home, too. I don't necessarily feel like New Horizons captures this quite as well as the previous games, as interactions with the villagers have only gotten more repetitive and shallow in later installments. But it's still an important facet of the series' identity, and not one I would really change.

It's also been pointed out on a number of occasions (and I've said it myself plenty of times in the past) that New Horizons allows for such a versatile array of customization that the things that they don't allow you to customize are a much larger blemish than they otherwise would be. Some of your complaints I do empathize with. In a game where you can decorate and customize the interior and exterior of virtually every building in the game, the fact that you can't do this with the airport and Town Square seems like a massive oversight. The fact that you also can't change their locations will definitely be an obstacle that will force you to grit your teeth on more than one occasion. However, I really think that things like changing your native fruit on your passport is perhaps expecting too much. As much as self expression is a big part of the game, it's also about making use of the resources that you are given. I empathize that certain cosmetics being forced upon you by RNG in a game that is ultimately dictated by aesthetics can be frustrating, but I don't think any game should be expected to allow you to customize every single solitary thing down to the tiniest imperfection. Like Pokémon IV's or the procedurally generated geography in Minecraft, or the multitude of limitations placed on you in SimCity, there's a great number of things you can do, but short of using a file editor to manually replace the values, at some point you're going to have to take the game as it is and play by its intended mechanics.

So my honest answer is, maybe Animal Crossing is not for you? Or maybe New Horizons specifically isn't. New Horizons is a strangely paradoxical experience for me. My list of gripes with the game is longer and more extensive than any other game in the series, to the point where it would be easy to say that there are more things I dislike about the game than things I actively like. Anytime I watch a video deriding New Horizons for being a major step backwards for the series, I end up nodding and agreeing with pretty much everything they say. And yet despite all of that, it's probably the most fun I've had with any game in the series. Despite all its faults, I simply find myself loving it to pieces. But because I can see its numerous problems, I can recognize and sympathize with the fact that it unfortunately isn't for everybody.

However--and with all due respect--I also think you're not really giving it a fair shake. While many of your points are valid and are complaints that I also share, some of them I feel are essentially blaming Nintendo for not reading your mind. For me, after about six months of playing, the game starts to feel like "my own," but not because every single aspect of my save file is reflective of me and my personality, but because I was able to create something that represents me within the space and limitations that was given. For example, pears are not my favorite fruit (though to be fair, none of the available fruits in the game really are), but I'm willing to forgive it being on my passport, because that's the island I was given and I've made my own little niche within those constraints. As the user above me put it, it's a game where you're asked to make your own fun (and Tom Nook even says as much once you've unlocked pretty much everything) with what's given to you.

So in short, it's possible the game is not for you and you might be better off spending your time on something else, but I do feel like some of your complaints are also asking a little much.

 

[kittyaerin]

Thanks for all your insights. I probably did go into the game sort of blind with a fairly high set of expectations like I thought designing and having customized islands meant I had a say on things and I can customize most of the game’s aspects according to my preference when in reality, it’s all RNG based and the only way I can get them according to my preferences is to reset over and over for the fruit and airport combination I wanted and to island hop as much as I could to find villagers I wanted too. This was what shocked me the most because I thought the only RNG things in the game was the map layout and the villagers and the availability of items and the timing of when they become available. I didn’t know essentially almost everything was random except for your face and hair and I was told by my friend irl that previous titles even had that randomized too lollll I can’t imagine.

In any case, I’ll take first the advise of resetting my island first because I really don’t like it and it feels like a stranger’s island because none of the aspects of it reflect anything about me. I’ll try to spend some time resetting for at least some of the aspects of the game to match my personal preferences. If it still doesn’t work, then maybe the game isn’t really for me.

 

[Croconaw]

It sounds like you’re trying to force yourself to play and enjoy a game simply because other people enjoy it. I also think you came into the game with very high expectations, likely due to what you heard about the game. I personally think New Horizons isn’t a good a game for an introduction to the series. It is very different from it’s predecessors. It focuses way more on design and customization than previous games. New Leaf, for example, has more of a community feel.

I think in order to get the feel for what Animal Crossing is supposed to be, you need to play the older games. There is a reason people prefer the older games. While New Horizons has some great features, it’s lacking in that one major area. I personally love the fact that villagers cannot move away without your permission. That makes things a little less stressful if you need a break.

If you’re really not enjoying New Horizons, don’t force yourself to play, but don’t give up on Animal Crossing either. Try playing an older game in the series and see if you feel differently.

 

[Flicky]

If you have Nintendo Online or the amiibo cards, the RNG aspect of the game becomes much smaller as you can just grab the items/villager from everywhere else.

I personally started with the island the game gave me - the airport colour I loved (blue), but the town square location frustrates me to this day. I've never cared about what fruits are on my passport, though. The villagers I received weren't that interesting to me at first, but I grew to love both of them, and one of them (Cherry) still remains on my island. The rest of the island layout I worked around in my own way, and it now feels like it's mine compared to the pre-terraformed generic island. My badges are also messed up through early time traveling which sucks, but then I remember that there'll be another AC game in the future, and I'll forget about those numbers.

I'd definitely say resetting the island could help you. But I'd also say that planning out you future island helps, too. It was only when I started looking through item lists online that my island started to really form.

 

[PoppyPumpkin]

The good news is that at the very least things like fruit can be solved by having a friend or friendly person help you out via bringing some fruit over. Other than resetting, I don't think there is much of a way around the airport issue though. I got lucky and managed to get orange in my Fall Town, or I'd probably still be resetting there myself. I def understand wanting a certain aesthetic.

Like others have said, I don't think you should give up just yet.

For me, I started playing AC back during the game cube era. So I have a very deep rooted love of the game that goes very very far back. I think for a lot of new players, New Horizons isn't the same experience that some of us older players might have had, too. So sometimes I think our idea of 'wow this is cool' is kind of like 'eh' to other people (like the being able to decorate outside legit was something we couldn't -really- do before on this scale yanno?)

But yeah, don't give up! Resetting came be a pain but eventually you'll get it, honestly. And like I said, people can bring you peaches. I have some I'm more than willing to bring you once you get settled.

 

[JKDOS]

You can't change the airport color after starting, but you can most definitely cut down the fruit trees and plant new ones with the fruit you love.

Villagers will move out, but they won't if you keep running from them. Every X days, a villager will ask to move, and you need to talk to them to tell them "Goodbye". The best thing you can do is invest in amiibos for villagers you do want.

When do you get to chill? Pretty much anytime you want. When Tom Nook asks you to build 3 houses, you can ignore him and go do what ever you want, such as decoration or farming.

 

[MiniPocketWorld]

I just time travel for stuff and remember even if I don't time travel, the season will come again next year. This isn't a game to play seriously or even daily. Dates on achievements won't matter unless it is something you personally really care about. And it's ok to go slow. It's a place to unwind in and talk to cute animal friends.
It does sound like you may benefit from a restart or using amiibos, but only after learning more about the game online first.

 

[FoxFeathers]

Maybe you should restart your island? Then just reset until you get a base layout/airport you like.

I've been playing AC since the gamecube version. Until New Horizons, there was a "need" to touch base with your town regularly or someone might move out without you knowing.
New Horizons doesn't have that, so you can very much play at your own speed. You can take weeks off if you like with no issues, and if you have a "Beautiful Town" ordinance going, you won't even have roaches or weeds. I come and go with this game all the time. There is no reason to force yourself to play if you ain't feeling it. And if you wanna get a project done, you could always time travel forward to get stuff built faster and then set back to real time (massive time-traveler here)
As for trees, why not just plant the other fruits? I just have an orchard of one of each fruit tree and them just have fir and oak for the rest since I like the look better.
There isn't a "right" way to play the game. Everything is pretty much optional.

 

[Aria Nook Violet]

I don't know how bad your phobia of birds is but if you feel seeing the birds in the game makes you feel really uncomfortable I will say this game is not for you because there are a lot of birds on this game either as villagers and as special characters.
I'm very anxious when playing games too and I'm a collectionist as I don't like to miss anything the game has to offer and since the adult life is busy I like to spend my time wisely so I understand the struggle. Even I can't play the game the way is meant to be played and go "back in time" when I missed some days. This is such a huge relief on my anxious soul. That is the solution that works best for me but if you don't like to time travel I understand.
I prefer the older games which you would think doesn't make sense for a anxious person but hear me out. Less control can mean less things for you have to worry about. For example in the older games if you had the eagle in your town and didn't play for awhile the animal would eventually leave but in new horizons they won't leave until they come up to you and ask. Since you have the phobia the first opinion is better. The older games would make you feel guilty for missing out so maybe because of that I wouldn't recommend it to you however I am anxious and still played those games just fine. I was scared for the consequences but really the only consequence is a virtual dialog of a virtual animal letting me know I missed something. Thinking like that helped me enjoy the game. After that the same animal would be really sweet to me so I stubbornly forced my mind to focus on the positives XD.
I think maybe you are letting the game control your thinking as I was a victim of that when I played New Leaf and at the time I searched for ways to let go. I had to convince myself this is just a game, a virtual world and if I miss something it won't be the end of the world. I repeated this to myself over and over. I feel you started this game with the wrong idea of what it was and New horizons will give you the wrong idea of what it is because at its core this series is a life simulation game. If a game is going to simulate real life in real life you don't really have control over things and have to adapt to it and that is what I like about this series. Also social media will give you the wrong idea as it is populated with designers that show they have "control" over their islands and never the other game mechanics they don't have control over.
I understand how confused you must feel about the game vs your expectations as New horizons was the game that divided the fandom into two groups: players that only played new horizons vs the players that played the older games and NW. This division came from Nintendo releasing a game that brought new features to the franchise but it didn't know how to implement them and lost its core. The game wants to give you full control and doesn't want to give you full control and it's confusing. I feel even the developers themselves must be lost on what they want to do (if they either want to keep it as a life simulator or turn into a design kind of game).
With this I want to tell you that is normal for you to be feeling what your feeling. New horizons is a mess so please take it easy and if you want to try the older games you should to get a better feeling of what was before. However if you feel the fear of birds is too much for you to handle I don't really think this is the game for you. Popular or not the game is not for everyone and if it's not for you you're valid as well.

 

[DaCoSim]

Hey hun. My brother suffers from very severe ocd, so I can definitely see and empathize with some of your frustrations with this game. Here Are some suggestions if you don’t mind them. I would reset. Absolutely 100%. Just try to find a map that you like that has the airport color that you desire. Don’t worry about the fruit, somebody can give you the fruit that you want most. If there’s a bird villager in your town keep resetting. I do understand the day to day constant same items but there’s nothing that can be done about that which is unfortunate. However there are loads of people that give away free items quite often on here if you are possibly interested in that. There are also tons of people on this forum that I know probably would not mind giving away free villagers if you just check the villager thread. Terraforming can be very very fun For an ocd perfectionist but I know it can get extremely overwhelming. The only suggestion I can think of for the real life time problems with holidays, is to time travel. Go up a day when it gets closer to time to a holiday. That way you can play the day before the holiday or even two days before the holiday and still be able to enjoy the real life holiday. I really hope this helps and I wish you all the luck. I have loved this game since it came out on GameCube and even though I don’t personally have OCD the way my brother does, I do suffer from anxiety and I definitely have some OCD tendencies from growing up around him so I completely understand your frustrations. Best of luck hun.

 

[Moritz]

Don’t worry about the fruit, somebody can give you the fruit that you want most

With this, I would say if you care about the fruit it is important to have the right one as your native fruit.

I had cherries on my original island and figured it wasn't a big deal when I started my island.
But it really grated on me.

Its on your passport.

And every time you go back from harvs island, you get reminded of your native fruit as you're told you're going back to "fruit"town.
Its a mini daily reminder that your island has something wrong with it.

Edit: guess it doesn't matter
The OP hasn't been online in a month since posting this.
I wonder what they did in the end.

 

[Aria Nook Violet]

With this, I would say if you care about the fruit it is important to have the right one as your native fruit.

I had cherries on my original island and figured it wasn't a big deal when I started my island.
But it really grated on me.

Its on your passport.

And every time you go back from harvs island, you get reminded of your native fruit as you're told you're going back to "fruit"town.
Its a mini daily reminder that your island has something wrong with it.

Edit: guess it doesn't matter
The OP hasn't been online in a month since posting this.
I wonder what they did in the end.

I also hope they are well if they either decided to continue to play this game or not. Sure the OP hasn't been online in a month but I wrote my reply in hopes others in a similar position might one day see it and maybe all of the replies in here will help. Who knows? Maybe one day the OP might see it. I think our replies even after time has passed can end up being useful to others so it is never too late to reply.

 

[DaCoSim]

With this, I would say if you care about the fruit it is important to have the right one as your native fruit.

I had cherries on my original island and figured it wasn't a big deal when I started my island.
But it really grated on me.

Its on your passport.

And every time you go back from harvs island, you get reminded of your native fruit as you're told you're going back to "fruit"town.
Its a mini daily reminder that your island has something wrong with it.

Edit: guess it doesn't matter
The OP hasn't been online in a month since posting this.
I wonder what they did in the end.

Oh yeah, I forgot about the when you visit Harv’s Island they talk about it. Completely forgot!!!!

 

[strawberry_pie]

Hi everyone! I only recently got into Animal Crossing (barely a year in) because people told me it’s a very chill and relaxing game (I have anxiety and OCD) so I should pick it up and check it out. I’ve been playing farming games and enjoy Harvest Moon, Rune Factory and Stardew Valley type games a lot so I said maybe I’ll enjoy this cute game too. So I got myself a copy and then started playing. I was excited to start my own island with a map I liked and peaches as my native fruit and the cute little yellow airport because those are my favorites. When I started my game, I had to reset a good 20 amount of times to find a map with that combination but couldn’t find one. I was starting to get annoyed and tired of doing the same things over and over so I settled for an island with cherries and a green airport that doesn’t seem to go well with my flag because it’s so neon. I also had to endure two starting villagers, one of them was an eagle who I barely spoke to because I have real life phobia of birds but apparently, I was stuck with that villager until they ask to leave or something. That eagle never wanted to leave either. I wanted to decorate a lot but I can’t because same things keep appearing at my shops for sale and I get duplicate DIYs on the beach every three days or so. I also failed to join the happy festivities because you apparently can only play them on the day of and well, of course I celebrated those holidays in real life with real people instead of opening a game so I missed Halloween and I missed Christmas. I told myself okay I’ll give it a few more months. This game must be very popular for a reason. Several months after and here I am, still wondering when I can chill and relax in this game. I’ve spent my Animal Crossing life as an island representative of an island that has native fruits I don’t even eat, with an airport color that I wouldn’t even wear, living with animals that will make me run away faster than a speeding bullet if I see them in real life. Not only that but I have to play it everyday to collect items and check the trees and ballon for furnitures and I have to remember to not miss playing it too when there are real life festivities so I don’t miss out again. All these things are now making me think…is this MY game? Or the other way around? Do I control this or does it control me? When I got into Animal Crossing I expected RNG but is it really THIS MUCH RNG?

How do you guys find a way around all these sorts of RNG? And is there a way to make the game feel like it’s actually MY game and not Nintendo’s? I found out I can’t change my airport color. And I can plant my favorite fruit tree but my passport will still have my native fruit that I hate. I work a full time job so I don’t have the luxury to play the game everyday. I wanna be able to play the game for a long time when I do have the time, since you know, I paid for it and I own it but there’s nothing to do because it runs on real time. I can time travel but it’ll mess up the dates on the badges. At this point this feels like a game someone else owns and I just play on it instead of it being my game. I just feel so helpless about this because I think I’ve given it enough time and chances for me to learn to love the game but how can I do that when it feels more like an obligation than a hobby? Or should I really just quit the game altogether?

I don't think you should quit animal crossing,the more development you do the possibilities

Also for the fruit:when you redeem a nook miles ticket then give it to airport you have a small chance of going to an island without your native fruit so when you find that pick some fruit then plant them

And for the airport color I thought they are all the same