I recently started playing ACNH earlier this summer. Having already logged 900 hours on Stardew Valley, I wanted a fresh "grindy" game, so I chose ACNH to chip away at over the hot summer days. I started in late May, just in time to see the seasonal change, and have been playing every day for nearly four months now. I don't "cheat" by time travelling, so everything is being done in real-time, as awkward as that is. However, 500 hours in, and I'm starting to become frustrated with the game and its humongous shortcomings...
I'm at a point in the game that most could consider "end-game". I've paid off Tom Nook fully, upgraded all buildings, completed the Fossil collection etc. I'm currently just working on my Critterpedia and artwork submissions, but I'm 75% of the way there.
My number one issue right now is storage space. 5,000 storage slots is by far nowhere near enough storage space for a game that has nearly 20,000 unique items! I'm literally littering my island with clothing items, for lack of space. I have had to start stacking 3 or every creature (for CJ/Flick models), which is causing significant lag issues, not to mention affecting my island's reputation. Why has Nintendo not yet addressed this, and upgraded the storage capacity? Clothing needs to be a separate storage inventory from items. I can't even craft new items because I have nowhere to store them.
Then there are other issues:
1) The thumbstick sensitivity threshold is far too sensitive. I didn't even know I had left stick-drift until I started playing ACNH! It has never presented itself in any other game I've played up to now. There needs to be a sensitivity setting
2) Annoyingly repetitive music that can't be turned off. After 500 hours, believe me, it gets on your nerves a bit!
3) Tool selection being on the
buttons instead of L & R. WHY!? At least give us options to re-map them in-game.
4) British English language option. I'm playing the UK release of the game on a console set to British (proper) English. If they can add multiple languages, the least Nintendo could do is spell English words correctly (ie, not American) for Brits.
5) Gyroids should have their own section in the Museum, preferably on the opposite side of the landing as the coffee shop. Maybe Brewster could curate, seeing as how the first time you meet him he says he's hunting for Gyroids. This would at least alleviate some of the storage woes.
6) Stackable items should all stack to 99. It's stupid how many items stack to 10, 30, 50... Weeds stack to 99, so why doesn't everything else? Why do Fruit/Veg and Seashells stack to 10, but Wood stacks to 30, and Turnips stack even higher?
7) Orchard trees should have distinct appearances when not fruiting, and not look identical to Hard Wood trees. Likewise, dropped Seashells should all have unique item textures, and not share graphics with other items. Same applies to blue clothing costumes actually being blue on the dropped item.
8) Bug/fish caught animations are a bit tedious after the 5,000th time. We need an option to turn off these time-wasting pop-up notifications, and streamline the gameplay. By all means keep the "YES!" alerts when catching a new creature, but let us turn off the rest.
9) Travelling to a friend's island is a very long-winded process. The Dodo talks too much and asks too many questions. Just let us click our friend from a friend list and go directly there.
10) The game needs a feature to "hide tree foliage" to allow players to locate items hidden behind objects like trees.
11) Balloon presents that drop onto flowers/crops or in water should later appear in the island Lost & Found. The game encourages you to cover the island in crops and flowers, but that then leaves very few spaces for a balloon present to drop.
12) Limiting designers to 10 bridges per island. This feels very restrictive. Not only is it inconvenient, but stifles creativity. I'd love to do something creative with Zen bridges, but my limit is already taken up by simple infrastructure that enables me to navigate my island. Limit needs to be doubled to 20.
Maybe I'm just being too picky, or maybe I expect too much from the game after having played Stardew Valley to death - a game that prides itself on quality of life updates. The more I play ACNH, the more I hate these niggly little issues, and they begin to make me feel angry instead of enjoying the game. I just don't understand why, after 5 years, Nintendo hasn't solved some of these key problems with the game.
I'm at a point in the game that most could consider "end-game". I've paid off Tom Nook fully, upgraded all buildings, completed the Fossil collection etc. I'm currently just working on my Critterpedia and artwork submissions, but I'm 75% of the way there.
My number one issue right now is storage space. 5,000 storage slots is by far nowhere near enough storage space for a game that has nearly 20,000 unique items! I'm literally littering my island with clothing items, for lack of space. I have had to start stacking 3 or every creature (for CJ/Flick models), which is causing significant lag issues, not to mention affecting my island's reputation. Why has Nintendo not yet addressed this, and upgraded the storage capacity? Clothing needs to be a separate storage inventory from items. I can't even craft new items because I have nowhere to store them.
Then there are other issues:
1) The thumbstick sensitivity threshold is far too sensitive. I didn't even know I had left stick-drift until I started playing ACNH! It has never presented itself in any other game I've played up to now. There needs to be a sensitivity setting
2) Annoyingly repetitive music that can't be turned off. After 500 hours, believe me, it gets on your nerves a bit!
3) Tool selection being on the
buttons instead of L & R. WHY!? At least give us options to re-map them in-game.4) British English language option. I'm playing the UK release of the game on a console set to British (proper) English. If they can add multiple languages, the least Nintendo could do is spell English words correctly (ie, not American) for Brits.
5) Gyroids should have their own section in the Museum, preferably on the opposite side of the landing as the coffee shop. Maybe Brewster could curate, seeing as how the first time you meet him he says he's hunting for Gyroids. This would at least alleviate some of the storage woes.
6) Stackable items should all stack to 99. It's stupid how many items stack to 10, 30, 50... Weeds stack to 99, so why doesn't everything else? Why do Fruit/Veg and Seashells stack to 10, but Wood stacks to 30, and Turnips stack even higher?
7) Orchard trees should have distinct appearances when not fruiting, and not look identical to Hard Wood trees. Likewise, dropped Seashells should all have unique item textures, and not share graphics with other items. Same applies to blue clothing costumes actually being blue on the dropped item.
8) Bug/fish caught animations are a bit tedious after the 5,000th time. We need an option to turn off these time-wasting pop-up notifications, and streamline the gameplay. By all means keep the "YES!" alerts when catching a new creature, but let us turn off the rest.
9) Travelling to a friend's island is a very long-winded process. The Dodo talks too much and asks too many questions. Just let us click our friend from a friend list and go directly there.
10) The game needs a feature to "hide tree foliage" to allow players to locate items hidden behind objects like trees.
11) Balloon presents that drop onto flowers/crops or in water should later appear in the island Lost & Found. The game encourages you to cover the island in crops and flowers, but that then leaves very few spaces for a balloon present to drop.
12) Limiting designers to 10 bridges per island. This feels very restrictive. Not only is it inconvenient, but stifles creativity. I'd love to do something creative with Zen bridges, but my limit is already taken up by simple infrastructure that enables me to navigate my island. Limit needs to be doubled to 20.
Maybe I'm just being too picky, or maybe I expect too much from the game after having played Stardew Valley to death - a game that prides itself on quality of life updates. The more I play ACNH, the more I hate these niggly little issues, and they begin to make me feel angry instead of enjoying the game. I just don't understand why, after 5 years, Nintendo hasn't solved some of these key problems with the game.
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