I recently got back into this game after almost a year of not touching it, so I guess I could say I have mixed opinions of it.
Overall, I would say that if you enjoy the decorating aspect of Animal Crossing, then you might be able to find some value in this game. Like everyone else has said, literally all you do in this game is decorate. That's it. You do get to build facilities, but after you unlock all the buildings and make a little town... Decorating villager houses is all that's really left to do. And yeah, you don't get your own house, which totally sucks.
As for the Amiibo cards... While it's true that you don't need Amiibo cards to play the game, the only way you can build special characters houses is through the cards/figures. From what I've seen so far, though, you're not really missing much if you don't have the special characters. I recently tried making a house for Gracie, and the only unique thing her card unlocked was her car and picture. I was expecting her to unlock the Gracie series, but nope. Same goes for Timmy and Tommy, I scanned their figure today, and all they unlocked that was unique was their pictures. It's a bit disappointing, but at least they're not alienating the players who don't want to spend extra money on the game.
And yeah, a lot of the most important features of the game have to be unlocked via Play Coins. Of course, you don't REALLY have to walk to get Play Coins. ;P I just shook my 3DS a whole lot, hehe.
I saw someone else mention this in the thread, but I feel like I should bring it up... One of the best/worst features of the game, is the fact that villagers are always happy with the house you build them, no matter what you do with them. As long as you include their favorite possessions the first time you build their house, they literally don't care what else you do with it. I say "the first time" because you can go back and remodel their house, throw away all of their prized possessions, and replace it with stuff of your choosing, and they don't care at all. This is both the best and worst feature because... On one hand, it allows you limitless creativity, but on the other, it offers no real challenge. I've literally made houses for villagers where I did nothing and called it a day, just so I could unlock their furniture, haha.
Overall, I'd say that if you're interested in playing this, get it at a discount. I do wish I hadn't payed $45 on a preorder, but oh well. The prices on Amazon are pretty low, though, so you can get it for cheap.
