Would you play/decorate if there was no terraforming?

[Corrie]

At the start of the game, yes, but now I most likely wouldn't even play it. The only reason I turn on the game nowadays is to finish decorating my island.

 

[Fruitcup]

Yes, 100%, I was completely ready for a regular island until they threw in the terraforming aspect. In fact the current town I'm working on is going to keep terraforming to a minimum. I love being able to work around whats already there, it makes it more of a challenge.

 

[-Blue-]

I would've still played the game, but as others have stated it would've been a downgrade. If terraforming was not added, then there wouldn't really be anything in NH aside from putting furniture outside and better graphics that would separate it from the other games.

I'm just going to assume that nothing from the previous games carried over that they cut from the true version of NH. So it'd be kind of a letdown that we waited 7-8years for a game that really didn't have much to offer.

 

[Halloqueen]

In the three years following the release of New Horizons, I never really terraformed my island. I rounded out edges here and there, adjusted minor things, but nothing drastic and nothing that radically changed the layout of the island from what it was when I chose it. It is only in the past few months that I've felt the desire to more intensively change things up and move things around, but I've yet to really dedicate the time and effort to the concept. Currently on one of my sabbaticals from the game, so maybe next time I pick it up again?

As such, I would answer yes. The main draws of Animal Crossing games for me are the interior decorating of houses, putting together outfits, and interacting with my animal residents. Unfortunately the interior decorating took a hit in this game due to the awful decision to give the fully upgraded player housing awkward room sizes instead of the uniformly big room sizes we could get in New Leaf and the previous games, meanwhile we can give the animals two 10x10 rooms in the Happy Home Paradise DLC. The Happy Home Paradise allows me to flex those interior decorating muscles and keeps me interested in the game; if it wasn't present, I would've dropped the game ages ago due to lack of anything to keep me engaged. While I've decorated the island some, and it is fun, I'm much more interested making nice rooms in the houses.

 

[KittenNoir]

I would still play and decorate my island as much as I can But I do really love being able to terraform.

 

[ConfusedDad]

i love terraforming but yes, honestly I don’t care, i would find a way around it, so i would definitely still play.

 

[Mymelowy]

Yes I would ! I think the game would still be fun bc of many other things you can do also I’m used to not being able to terraform bc I haven’t unlocked it yet (I started playing 11 april)

 

[Hypno KK]

Yes. I don't like terraforming all that much. It's a nice concept but the execution is terrible.

 

[NebulaNights]

Yep. I don’t really do any terraforming on my island, so it doesn’t affect me very much. I’ve tried dozens of times to terraform, but I’m just not very good at it at all. The best I can do is just fix the cliffs and rivers and smooth them out, but I can still live without that.

 

[coffeeplant]

I would still play and decorate, but I'd be a lot more picky about my initial map. I feel like double south river mouths cut through your space a lot, and the way the rivers flow just don't make sense to me sometimes. What am I supposed to do with those narrow strips of land? I can't see myself decorating those with anything but flowers, since nothing else would really fit there? I'm not fan of small random cliffs either. I wouldn't know what to do with them if I couldn't terraform to add water to or expand them. I'd have to think about bridges and inclines placement as well, as I use terraforming to make them fit the space where I want them to go. In other words, if I couldn't terraform, I would overthink pretty much everything. c':

I also love terraforming to add small waterfalls and ponds, it gives islands a more organic/natural feeling. I like the starter maps and early game vibes, but they feel a bit too clean to me, if that makes sense. That I could live without, it's purely for the aesthetics and I don't mind not being able to add them in previous games. It's just something I personally enjoy.

 

[Licorice]

I’ve always played ac games and since this is a new feature to acnh it is definitely something I can live without. In fact I barely changed my layout at all. I took out this part that was sectioned off by the river because I felt it took up too much space and created a small stepping area to get across my river quicker. As far as decorating I don’t do much of that either.

This is how my entire island is decorated.
Minimal items and I try to keep them all camping or natural themed. Log stools, campfires, etc. Trees, weeds, and green mums everywhere. Ever since wild world I have put flowers on the sides of the villager houses and it’s a habit I cannot break lol

Spoiler

This is my map. Not a lot has changed since I started my island on release day. I like having an island that is super easy to navigate.

Spoiler

 

[dino]

i see i am in the minority here but i would not play without terraforming.

i think terraforming is conceptually a bit like breaking the acnh game but the series also had few other place to go, function wise, to set it apart from other games in the series. as such, it has become an intrinsic part of why i play ACNH specifically (instead of say, pocket camp which has much better furniture and villager interaction w said furniture).

i load up ACNH to do my dailies and then to work on terraforming/design projects. partly because as i mentioned, the lack of cool new furniture that interests me (i'm a modern-sci fi furniture devotee). but also partly because i'm instead incredibly compelled by the creativity and the innovation of other players messing around with terraforming and everything that can be realized by it. that admiration inspires me to play on my own island.

i will admit, they could have gone further w the terraforming. like why can't i build rocks, chabge the beach and access the 4th level? it don't make no sense!!!

 

[Belle T]

Oh, I suppose I should append something to my previous point. Even if it would be a considerable downgrade, I would probably still play without terraforming. But I would absolutely think twice about my purchase if they went back on allowing furniture to be placed outdoors. One of the big reasons I find New Horizons only ever so slightly more enjoyable than New Leaf is because I honestly found Public Works Projects to be a bit of a pain, and the fact that they were the only way (outside of planting flowers and creating custom paths) to decorate your town made customizing... really not fun. So if they reverted that change, I think the rest of the game would have to do some really heavy lifting to convince me it was worth the purchase.

 

[JKDOS]

I would. I haven't done much terraforming since 2020. I destroyed my island after hours of terraforming, only to discover it wasn't good, and I ended up spending an ever greater number of hours trying to recover. I keep the natural layouts now only using terraforming to make bridges and inclines fit in spots.

I don't think terraforming needs to be removed from future games, but it's definitely not something that needs to be there for me to consider buying/playing.

 

[CouchPotato]

Yes I think I would.I don't really terraform that much anyway unless I can't find a layout i like.On my first ever island I didnt terraform at all.

 

[MoogleKupo]

I absolutely would keep playing because that was Animal Crossing's whole format in the beginning. I love this terraforming change, I terraform all the time and would love to see this addition continue into other games. You don't have to ever use it, but it is lovely to still be there for everyone.
I would keep playing to do the daily chores, decorate the island with furniture, flowers, and possibly adjust buildings (if that falls underneath decorating and not terraforming). It would lightly suck, but again, that is how AC has always been so I'm sure we would all have that same this is great, this is awesome, I love this game, okay I'm bored, Oooh let's come back and play that again, over and over again.

 

[xSuperMario64x]

of course cause tbh terraforming wasn't exactly a selling point for me lol, neither of the two islands I've had were terraformed (save for a few tiny alterations).

 

[Flare]

I’d at least like the paths to stay around, but there’s always custom designs to fall back on like in New Leaf.

Even then I’m not sure if I would play. The terraforming feels like the main playing point for me since there isn’t much “soul” to this game compared to the previous games.

 

[oath2order]

Oh absolutely I would.

I've barely terraformed, only added a small bit to my center island to make it so I could jump in a certain way I wanted.

All I care about is outdoor furniture decorating.

 

[pawpatrolbab]

Yes absolutely. My island still has it's original layout ( I originally flatened it and regretted it so re-built it to how it was originally ) and that's how I prefer it. The only change I have done since then is add one pond and waterfall. I don't like the teraforming because I feel like it gives me too much control, it's not enjoyable to me. Excluding the path options ( but I'm not sure if that counts? )