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Which game do you like more, New Leaf or New Horizons?

I think both games offer something interesting, but New Leaf wins over by a large margin for me. There's a lot that it had going for me that kept me playing and feeling the charm which I felt was lacking in New Horizon. I loved the feel of the music, whereas NH's is mostly a rehash of the intro theme so it kinda gets samey after a while. Midnight's theme is very interesting in NL and NH just doesn't capture it.


.

I loved the sense of progression. We're seeing it happening now on the forum with the tree growing over time. There's really nothing like that in NH. There's not even an anniversary date for when we became a resident or helped paved way to 'put the island on the map'. Nor do the villagers really acknowledge any of the progression. It's really a downgrade.

And lastly the villagers especially feel like a downgrade.

The QoL improvements in NH are a godsend and so crafting/terraforming are very unique, but need some improvements in future titles if they come back, but overall I think NL wins over NH. The community being so divided during 2020 is kind of proof that they missed the mark somewhere, but it's still a good game.
 
Going against the grain but I think I like new horizons better. There are things I miss from new leaf that I wish were in horizons but overall I enjoy the Qol improvements that horizons introduced and I really like how much easier it is to decorate outside.
 
Since going back to NL for this event, I think a lot of people (including myself) were looking at the game through rose tinted goggles. NH has its issues but the QoL features NH implemented almost makes it hard to go back to NL. I found myself bored playing NL? Meanwhile with the decorating and building the island in NL, I was kept busy. I miss a lot of NL's clothing, furniture, and hourly music but I truly don't really wanna go back to playing it. The villager dialogue between the two games is equally lame in my opinion.
 
oh I definitely prefer New Leaf, there's no shot. it has a lot more charm and nuances than New Horizons, and it just feels more cozy and comforting. something about NH feels very in-your-face and I kinda just don't vibe with that.
 
Honestly... it's hard for me to decide. Part of me wants to say New Horizons for the QoL improvements, villagers not leaving, and ability to place furniture outdoors, but also... I don't play it anywhere near as consistently as I did with New Leaf, despite all of that.
Part of that was definitely due to me not wanting to let my favorite villagers leave, but I kinda feel like there's more to it than that? New Leaf has a lot of little things that give it life that New Horizons lacks, and I feel like it has the better vibes overall. It definitely has its flaws too though.
 
.: Meri :. said:
Honestly... it's hard for me to decide. Part of me wants to say New Horizons for the QoL improvements, villagers not leaving, and ability to place furniture outdoors, but also... I don't play it anywhere near as consistently as I did with New Leaf, despite all of that.
Part of that was definitely due to me not wanting to let my favorite villagers leave, but I kinda feel like there's more to it than that? New Leaf has a lot of little things that give it life that New Horizons lacks, and I feel like it has the better vibes overall. It definitely has its flaws too though.
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I 100% agree with you. It’s almost like my ideal Animal Crossing game would be a mix of the two. Keep everything good that New Leaf had but add in the good things that New Horizons improved upon.
 
honestly after going back and playing it recently... i really don't think i prefer new leaf over new horizons. there's so many quality of life changes in new horizons that kinda makes it hard for me to go back and enjoy new leaf. in fact the only thing i really prefer is the small town, train-based setting of new leaf.

i understand why a lot of people would prefer new leaf, but i do think some people are looking back at it with nostalgia more than the game being that much better. my ideal animal crossing would definitely be a mix between those two and the gamecube one..
 
I'm not sure if it's the nostalgia factor, but I think I prefer new leaf...
Tbf the way I played NH probably wasn't the best (sinking 6+ hours into the game Everyday during the pandemic) but I feel like NL kept me hooked for a lot longer. By the time Easter passed I was kinda already bored of NH. To me, NH just felt like a decorating game, (although I'm a completionsist and I like collecting all the museum goods, the kk songs, diy, clothing etc.) But even then whilst there were so many good items, I also missed the variety of furniture sets in NL. I would not have been mad if they just transferred everything over and called it a day 😂 or even better, just copy and paste the furniture from pocket camp over 🙃
That being said, I don't feel motivated to talk to the villagers as much...I kinda miss 'earning their kindness' in like wild world where they would say some really outta pocket things until you become closer. The personalities in NH feel so two dimensional, like if I git a dollar everytime Beau mentioned bugs :/
 
I forgot to add that I think part of the charm that is missing in NH is due to the smartphone feature. It feels very impersonal for everything to be done on that. I know it's more of a convenience the way it is now in NH with how you can just use a mirror to change your hair or give yourself plastic surgery, but to me it just had a different vibe when Harriet was the one who did your hairstyles. I guess things like that made it feel like a real community. I don't know, maybe I'm the only one who feels that way, but I didn't really care for the phone and felt it took away from what made AC so unique in the first place.
 
I hope the next game is a good combination of the two. I love the progression in new leaf more but I love the customization in new horizons more.
I also like the qol with the villagers moving and plot placement of new horizons
 
I think I'm leaning in favour of ACNL, but I wouldn't go back to it, necessarily. In its current state, I think I view ACNL as more of a "fully finished game" compared to ACNH: it has a lot more content in it (island, store upgrades, minigames, etc.) and more progression.

ACNH to me feels closer to a proof-of-concept to test out different mechanics, quality of life improvements, etc. which are very good improvements and I love them and find it hard to go back to ACNL without them, but the focus was definitely more on those compared to the actual progression of the game.

I think part of my feeling towards "ACNH was meant to be a smaller but not full game" probably has to do with the update cycle -- updates in ACNH went until 2022 (2 years after launch) vs. ACNL which had updates until 2016 (4 years after JP launch), which definitely makes me feel like ACNH was not meant to be "the" big entry.

am i just on copium? maybe. in my heart i want to hold hope that the success of acnh means the next game will be a beautiful blend of all the qol improvements + the meat of acnl
 
i agree with mistreil about acnl feeling like a full game and acnh being like a POC. i think acnl was fully fleshed out with tons of stuff to do outside of dailies and plenty of updates even years after its release. acnh had such a short (?) update window in comparison.
 
I should clarify and say that NL is just objectively better from my understanding than NH. NH honestly feels more like a decorating game and it lacks a lot of things that made NL fun to play.

I do have to say that I agree with the comments wanting a mix of the two. I think if they did that for the next AC game it would turn out really great.
 
i’m definitely biased but nl will always be superior. it was my second animal crossing game, and it holds the most sentimental value. nh is obviously better in terms of graphics / design, but it doesn’t have the same feel as nl.
 
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