Only 2 years of updates? Fine or not?

[Corrie]

That would be Splatoon 3.

2 years of updates is fine, but it wasn't really 2 years since there were huge droughts in between those 2 years.

April 2020 brought Redd, the art gallery, and Leif
July 2020 brought summer wave 1: Diving, sea creatures, Pascal/mermaid, Gullivar (3 months)
End of July 2020 summer wave 2: fireworks
End of September: Pumpkins, some hair and reactions (2 months)
Mid November: Dream suite (2 months give/take)
End of February (3 Months) Mario furniture
Mid March (1 month) Sanrio furniture
November 2021 Final Update (7 months)

Like I'm sorry, but this was barely updates. Most of the updates were so measly until they dumped the majority in the 2.0 final update. Yes I didn't add holidays, but I'm sorry, those were already in all the previous games so it wouldn't be fair to count them as an update.

There were a few new holidays such as MayDay, Wedding month, and Museum/Stamp day, but I barely touched them. I only thought MayDay was super innovative, but stamp day felt so uninspired. To me this holiday felt last minute. Like they knew they were getting behind or needed more fluff and put the bare minimum of effort into the holiday just to say they did something.

I am still playing the game currently and am finding it fun because I am playing it the way it's intended, as a designer simulator. But I can't say that the updates were amazing. It's just what it is and I hope the next game chooses to make the entirety of the base-game from launch date.

It's almost like they promised these updates because they knew they sold us a beta game at launch. At the very least though, they didn't charge us for the remainder of the game like other companies would do.

But I'm with you on just playing it as a design sim. A terribly designed one imo but one nonetheless.

 

[BluebearL]

The number of years that we get updates does not particularly worry me, so long as the original version of the game is well rounded and fun. I didn't like the gradual completion of the game by Nintendo. To be honest what I want to see in future installations is a return to a more forest setting, less updates & info, more discovery of what you can do. Something I enjoyed about the older games and enjoy now in different games such as stardew valley, is that element of being dumped in a new village/town/forest/whatever, and slowly discovering all of the things you can do and find. I don't love the whole 'here is a video with all update announcements listing all of the new things you can do in addition to the old things'. Gets old very quickly. There is nothing more delightful in a simulation game like ac than accidentally showing up at the manhole at the right time and finding yourself underground with two grumps launching into space. Or working hard to unlock new shops/functions, looking forward to how it may change the game. None of that in NH. Update system isn't my thing.

 

[RollingAntony]

To give a better perspective of the updates, here's a more complete list of the updates and not just cherrypicking:

Items
This is an old table I had, so apologies for minor mistakes. I'm also missing the 11 additional Zodiac items of the 2.0.4 update ("2.1" internal) and some of the things on the other category.

Spoiler: Key

Ft = Furniture items, such as tables or giant vines or food or plants, etc.
HI = Home Interior items such as wallpaper, flooring and rugs
T/Bt/D/H/Sh/A/S/Bp = All the different clothing items
Hh = Handheld items such as the Plain Cotton Candy or Dumbbell
O = Other items such as Festivale feathers, which don't fit the other "strict" categories

	Ft	HI	T	Bt	D	H	Sh	A	S	Bp	Hh	O
1.2	19	11	4	0	2	3	2	0	0	0	1	1	43​
1.3	17	6	1	1	5	4	2	4	0	1	0	1	42​
1.4	2	3	0	0	2	5	0	0	0	1	7	1	21​
1.5	14	2	0	0	5	7	2	1	1	0	1	3	36​
1.6	33	8	1	1	1	2	0	1	0	0	1	1	49​
1.7	14	1	0	0	3	3	0	0	0	0	3	4	28​
1.8	18	5	0	0	5	5	5	4	0	0	2	0	44​
1.9	47	20	7	0	9	8	7	2	2	1	1	0	104​
1.10	10	0	1	0	2	3	0	0	0	0	1	1	18​
1.11	8	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	6	0	14​
2.00	713	124	42	8	17	30	4	11	2	47	41	36	1075​
	895	180	56	10	51	70	22	23	5	50	64	12	1474​

More than 1,474 <unique> items were added, not counting the thousands of variants for the furniture and clothing items- to give a perspective, the 2.0 update had over 9k total items added, so you can imagine how many more would be if variants were counted.

Most updates had a constant stream of 40 items added, the exceptions being the 1.4 update (probably focused on other features) and the 1.10 and 1.11 (being saved for 2.0 I guess) having less and the one-year anniversary having more than double thanks to the Sanrio sets.

Mechanics
Big bad mechanics that added depth and things to do.

1. Art (Real, fake and haunted artworks)
2. Bushes (6 types first, 1 later)
3. Diving to catch sea creatures, pearls and handy-dandy communicators
4. Dreaming
5. Back-up save
6. Transfer tool
7. Growing crops (first pumpkins, later other 5)
8. Ability to make custom umbrellas and uchiwa fans/handheld flags/face-cutout standees (these being a totally new kind of item)
9. Seasonal events (44 of them, some also integrated with the Able Sisters such as Prom)
10. Nook Link apps (6, including the Nook Points and Island Newspaper spread through all updates)
11. The Roost
12. Harvey's commune (which includes total customization, fortune and raffles)
13. Kapp'n boat tours
14. Growing gyroids (the gyroids themselves on the item total above)
15. Cooking (as a new way/extension of crafting)
16. Island ordinances
17. Group stretching
18. Nook Friday kind of event thingie
19. Visiting system with the residents

The first 10 were before 2.0. Worth noting that most of these are meant to last for a while- for example, diving was introduced on July but it had 40 creatures to catch on the next 9 months and you needed at least like a couple of months to get all the mermaid stuff and pearls to craft. Some special NPC were included with their related mechanic, such as Gullivarrr and Redd.

"Quality of Life"/General improvements
Little features/mechanics that changed how the game was played/added more of something

1. Fast travel between areas on your island (Pipe item)
2. Instant storage anywhere, anytime
3. Instant ABD anywhere, anytime
4. Permanent ladders (various types)
5. Several updates to dreams, such as random dreaming
6. Several updates to the Custom Portal, such as an app, using patterns as clothing/wallpaper/flooring and 50 extra design slots.
7. Several updates to the Camera, such as the hiding overlay and the Pro Camera (I'd argue this a major mechanic tho)
8. 17 new hairstyles
9. 44 new reactions
10. Visitor schedule being mostly fixed
11. Visitor announcements from Isabelle
12. More inclines/bridges
13. DIY storage
14. Home customization new options
15. Donation-like items
16. Home storage upgrades
17. Gyroid fragments on beach
18. Changes to almost all the yearly events (Bunny Day/May Day/International Museum Day/Wedding Season/Fireworks/Halloween/Turkey Day)
19. Changes to how you get dialogue from residents
20. Island Life 101
21. 22 new residents (6 exclusive to amiibo)
22. Accent walls
23. Fence customization
24. Music boxes-like items
25. More than 24 special NPC that can be encountered on the Roost with amiibo
26. More Nook Miles+ and Nook Miles Stamps

This is also missing dozens of other things such as Saharah getting a slight dialogue improvement, filtering non-rebuyable items on the catalog, new music, reward for completing the museum exhibits, Wisp improvements, etc. and ignoring the yearly events added. Oh and of course, this is also straight-up not counting the whole new game added with Happy Home Paradise. I'm also fairly sure I'm missing some things lol


There was a ton of stuff added even before the big 2.0 update- but that's not to say the base game was incomplete per se. The base game had basically the "core" systems fully operational and those were supposed to last quite a while, for example, you needed like 9 months to complete the fish/bugs critterpedia or to get all the items behind different seasons. But that also goes a bit into YMMV territory so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

But the point is that the updates throughout the first 1.7 months did indeed have a lot of things, despite what many people seems to think of them (not denying the 2.0 was massive). Of course, my personal preference is irrelevant when looking at how many things were added though the updates- for example, I consider the home-storage upgrade on November a top tier update and may not care a lot about dreaming, or how I consider May Day and Group Stretching much more important and enjoyable updates than 50 extra design slots but that doesn't mean those content updates are objectively worse/lesser.

I'm also guessing some things from the 2.0 update could have been added before, but the pandemic hindered that and decisions were taken to instead do a really big update. But this is just speculation on my part.

 

[azurill]

Kinda both. It is good to know there won’t be any more updates since that ends all the hyped up hopes of what we might get. I think they could have done the updates in a better way. They were very secretive about them and that always left many disappointed, I agree with @TheDuke55 adding holidays is not an update since they should of been there. Same with diving, Leif and Redd. The 2.0 did add a lot of things and I still play even though not as much. There are still things that I would have loved if they added them.

 

[-Blue-]

Kinda both. It is good to know there won’t be any more updates since that ends all the hyped up hopes of what we might get. I think they could have done the updates in a better way. They were very secretive about them and that always left many disappointed, I agree with @TheDuke55 adding holidays is not an update since they should of been there. Same with diving, Leif and Redd. The 2.0 did add a lot of things and I still play even though not as much. There are still things that I would have loved if they added them.

Yeah I felt that timelocking the holidays was also a bad way of artificially padding the game's real-life lifespan. I mean, that's the only thing I can think of as to why they timelocked them up until this point. It should've never been like that in the first place. I don't really TT a lot, but to those that do, they should've been able to enjoy the holidays and the such the way they did with the other games. It just feels like the game came with so much caution-tape and restriction that left a bad taste for me.

Like you're playing the game, but then there's also someone tying your hands behind your back as you try to play the game.

 

[azurill]

Yeah I felt that timelocking the holidays was also a bad way of artificially padding the game's real-life lifespan. I mean, that's the only thing I can think of as to why they timelocked them up until this point. It should've never been like that in the first place. I don't really TT a lot, but to those that do, they should've been able to enjoy the holidays and the such the way they did with the other games. It just feels like the game came with so much caution-tape and restriction that left a bad taste for me.

Like you're playing the game, but then there's also someone tying your hands behind your back as you try to play the game.

There really was no reason to time lock the events . I time traveled back to the events but for those who wanted to do them early should have been able to. Unfortunately there is a good amount of restrictions and hopefully they do better if there is another game.

 

[McRibbie]

There really was no reason to time lock the events . I time traveled back to the events but for those who wanted to do them early should have been able to. Unfortunately there is a good amount of restrictions and hopefully they do better if there is another game.

But there’s a genuinely good reason to: Animal Crossing is meant to be played in real time. Saying that time travelling’s included under the banner of “play however you’d like to” is really stretching the definition of that, and that’s coming from somebody who used to time travel, a lot. It’s ultimately not worth it to do so, you’re just gonna burn yourself out too soon.

There’s a lot of flaws with the update system, but I can’t say “making people wait until the time of the event to enjoy it, so we can collectively enjoy it” is one of them imo.

 

[Shawna]

I'm guessing it is so they can more easily focus on upcoming games (like Nintendo Switch Sports, BOTW 2, and Splatoon 3) and games that will start development in the future.

 

[-Blue-]

But there’s a genuinely good reason to: Animal Crossing is meant to be played in real time. Saying that time travelling’s included under the banner of “play however you’d like to” is really stretching the definition of that, and that’s coming from somebody who used to time travel, a lot. It’s ultimately not worth it to do so, you’re just gonna burn yourself out too soon.

There’s a lot of flaws with the update system, but I can’t say “making people wait until the time of the event to enjoy it, so we can collectively enjoy it” isn’t one of them imo.

But the thing is. They made us wait because they weren't done it. So that is a flaw. I can get behind them being behind on other stronger updates, but them not being done Bunny Day, Fireworks, Halloween ect when we were getting close is kind of bad. Or them slapping Wedding month together. Couldn't had taken them that long. It was just Harv's studio 2.0. I did that once or twice and that was enough for me. So there was no time traveling for me to get my fill of NH and I just couldn't be bothered to do more Wedding themes or wait around for possible updates. Did they think we would want to do that for a whole month?

Game's are meant to be played however you want them to be. Yeah you can make an argument that it's not how the creator wanted it to be played, but if a good portion of your consumers play it that way (time traveling), you're only shooting yourself in the foot if you restrict them from doing so. Hence why quite a few abandoned the game so early. It wasn't because they burned themselves out. Hell, I was working doubleshifts like crazy during peak pandemic and when I got home I just wanted to chill with some NH, but the content droughts and missing holidays made me not want to boot up a game I usually play/relax to.

 

[Hsn97]

I think it’s funny that people still think that Nintendo meant the updates as “updates” and didn’t read between the lines and see it was actually just a scummy way of charging full price for a half finished game that still had 2 years worth of development left.

 

[McRibbie]

Game's are meant to be played however you want them to be. Yeah you can make an argument that it's not how the creator wanted it to be played, but if a good portion of your consumers play it that way (time traveling), you're only shooting yourself in the foot if you restrict them from doing so. Hence why quite a few abandoned the game so early. It wasn't because they burned themselves out.

I was playing the game as intended and I still ended up with burnout in a lot of places because I was playing it that much, because it’s honestly very easy to burn yourself out on a game like AC, a game that’s surprisingly addictive for something as simple as it is, yet by design something that can end up being quite tedious and repetitive.

I’d also like to argue that while a good portion of the AC fandom time-travels, a good portion of the AC fandom doesn’t actually want to engage with the core parts of Animal Crossing, to the point where it rivals a decent portion of the followers of most known religions in the “wow, you don’t understand this, do you?” stakes. Time-travelling, using the creative features the game offers to make a world that ultimately isn’t the world of Animal Crossing, treating the villagers as collectible things to be bought and sold, demanding that QOL changes be made (regardless of any knock-on effects they might have), constantly throwing the RNG dice in order to get specific things (this is me, tbf. Not going to exclude myself from this) treating stuff as merely “content” rather than something that exists in the game for a specific reason, and in some instances, connecting with other people! In this instance I think going “actually, no! Screw what the audience thinks, the audience are fools!” is the right one… it’s just also kind of contradictory when SO MUCH of NH is designed around working around stuff AC fans don’t like about AC, to it’s detriment in many cases. Dammit AC team, do this more often!

I think it’s funny that people still think that Nintendo meant the updates as “updates” and didn’t read between the lines and see it was actually just a scummy way of charging full price for a half finished game that still had 2 years worth of development left.

There’s plenty of Nintendo games where they’re very obviously doing this, with “literally every sports title they’ve made since 2017” being a prime candidate there… but in AC’s case, I think they were genuinely meant to be updates.

For the most part, a lot of the new content the updates add seem to be specifically timed to be released at a certain time of year, and about 75% of 2.0 reads as “you’ve spent the past 18 months or so doing things very slowly, now you can do things faster because this is the end of the game now, go wild!” (The other 25% is a mixture of “was probably meant to be released slightly earlier on at a specific time of year but it got delayed” and “how did this take THAT LONG to release?”)

It could have been done a lot better, probably would have been if COVID hadn’t slowed down development of the game, but I honestly don’t think it was entirely “we need to release this game NOW”

 

[Belle T]

I honestly think two years is a fine lifecycle for a game. That's plenty of time for the title to be fleshed out and to offer a decent amount of additional content for that Recurrent User Spending that publishers are so keen over these days. I'm less upset that there aren't more updates as much as I am... perplexed by Nintendo's decision to not do so. It feels like Nintendo is just sitting on money here. You have a playerbase that will probably buy new DLC in droves. Or they could release supplementary material that will probably also be quite profitable. And Nintendo decides to just... do none of that. And the Switch's ecosystem and installbase is probably the best a Nintendo system has ever been for facilitating DLC and future expansions. Third party games on the Switch take advantage of this all the time, but Nintendo seems curiously reluctant.

I honestly think even without the DLC, New Horizons is a complete enough game, worth the price of admission on its own, even if there are some aspects (or in many cases, the exclusion of some aspects) that weaken the experience in relation to previous games in the series. But simultaneously, I find it hard to disagree with some other sentiments that the updates that we did receive were mostly things that ought to have been on the cartridge from the start. Or if they had to release it as DLC, it certainly should not have been priced at half the cost of the base game. And it should also be noted how, despite two years worth of updates, the game is still a considerably worse experience if you don't have a subscription to NSO.

If they ever did release another update for the game, I'd like it to be something that allows players to continue to make use of the features that were previously exclusive to online (i.e. the custom designs portal) even after NSO servers for the game go down. But I'm also not holding my breath on that.

 

[MidnightAura]

Two years I think is okay. I do tend to agree that the the updates didn’t really feel like updates per se but simply adding in things that should have been there to begin with.