Changing your dreamies as you go

[river]

I went into New Horizons with a carefully planned dreamie list. I'm a total neurotic micro-planner when it comes to this game, so I took into consideration personality type, color scheme, species, even height variety. I though about everything, the list felt so final to me I could've printed it and framed it.

But, now that I've been playing the game for a while, I realized that getting that ''perfect island'' I had imagined is going to be so much harder than I had antIcipated. Island hopping has been way too stressful for me, from getting enough tickets to the constant disappointment of never finding who you wish you'd find, and I've completely given up on online trading for now (mostly because I don't have a Nintendo Online account yet but also because of the crazy economy around here...).

I've been trying to control my perfectionist side and just... take it easy, I suppose.
Right now I got Reneigh, who was on my original list, but I also got Apollo, Bob and Roald from mystery islands and they're all really growing on me. Roald is so cute and round, Bob is super charming and Apollo is always singing in front of his beautiful house...

Now I'm really torn between that idealized list of dreamies and these new guys who I found completely by accident, and I'm trying not to stress about re-organizing that first list and about not having certain personality types or having repeat species or not having villagers with matching color schemes, etc...

So, I was wondering if anyone here went through something similar? Changing your dreamies list because you fell in love with some villager you haven't even though about before or even scraping the list all together (which I'm probably gonna end up doing) and managing your expectations when it comes to the ''perfect island''?

 

[Jam86]

since i played wild world as a child the only villager who was on my dreamie list was rosie and i never got her on any game which was quite annoying until my sister got me her amiibo for my birthday last month
but after playing new leaf and watching the movie i've grown to love more characters like apollo, whitney, axel and julian etc
i do struggle with the limit for 10 villagers because nowadays i just have a massive list of villagers i'd love to have on my island but i found someone who sells amiibos for cheap so i can now just get whatever character and change it back later if i ever change my mind (sorry i talk way to much lol)

 

[LarkenHawke]

I really wanted Beau. I love Beau. (And Fauna). So I went island hopping. I found Sherb instead.

....

I'm in love with his snoozy lazy butt. He's so cute. He makes me cry a little when he does his stretches.

 

[Jam86]

I really wanted Beau. I love Beau. (And Fauna). So I went island hopping. I found Sherb instead.

....

I'm in love with his snoozy lazy butt. He's so cute. He makes me cry a little when he does his stretches.

do you have beau yet? i've been trying to get him to move out for ages (i don't time travel)

 

[Mairen]

I think that's one of the charming things about this game. You are going to meet new villagers that you've never had an encounter with before, and find out that you are actually rather fond of them. It would be boring to me if, during my entire New Horizons adventure, I only kept the same 10 villagers in my town for the years I plan on playing this. Some people can do that and are perfectly okay, but I need more variety in my life. That's not to say I don't have dreamies, but my dreamy list is certainly flexable.

For example, I thought I was going to want and have Erik in my town as my lazy type. Until I ran into Clay on a mystery island and absolutely fell in love with the adorable little guy. My Erik amiibo card has promptly been put aside for an unknown amount of time. Clay has stolen my heart for the time being

 

[LarkenHawke]

do you have beau yet? i've been trying to get him to move out for ages (i don't time travel)

No, but I don't time travel either... >>;
If I ever have a vacancy, I'll let you know?

 

[Loreley]

I think villager hunting with Nook Miles ticket is annoying af, so I've decided to not desperately look for dreamies but any villager that's cute and has a nice house exterior. I still want to replace most of my villagers eventually, but there are some dreamies I'm willing to pass on in favour of my current villagers. For example I really wanted Canberra to be my uchi villager, but since I got Reneigh I don't see the need to actively look for Canberra anymore.

 

[Aliya]

I went into New Horizons with something similar and ended up falling in love with so many new faces that I wasn't willing to let them go. I think I maybe ended up with 3/10 dreamies I had planned, but I wouldn't change how anything has gone so far. The little things pulled me into keeping those I didn't plan on and I'm thankful they're still a part of my island.

The great thing about Animal Crossing is that it's just like real life. Friends can move on and new friends can come in. There's no rush to meeting your end goals since they will always be waiting for you. You always have the flexibility to change things up every now and then. So enjoy who you have now since you can always get those dreamies later if you change your mind.

 

[Raz]

I was never very attached to any specific villager. This only changed after I got ACGC and played it with my nephew (who is 5 years old now, but back then he was 3). I started I new town and one of my starting villagers was Bill. He loved Bill from the start, and I also liked that Bill's eyes makes him look kinda like "I'm feeling lost here, totally clueless about everything". I was a huge fan of Daffy Duck as well, so that's also a factor.

As Bill became the most cherished villager of our town, my nephew told me that he wanted to have Bill on the island when I showed him the first videos of New Horizons. Unfortunately, I didn't have the luck to get Bill as one of my 10 first residents, but I'll be getting him eventually.

With New Horizons I learned to like a few others, like Camofrog (who's another villager that my nephew loves), Fang and Felicity. Back in New Leaf, my favorite villager was Monty, and I love that even after he moved out (and I had no control over that), he's always on the main Street or inside the Nooks' store.

 

[river]

Thanks for the replies! I really love reading about the many ways this game surprises people... It really warmed my heart ☺

It's crazy how many villagers technically have the same traits and dialogue but still seem so different. For exemple, I never liked jocks until Antonio moved in my town in New Leaf, for some reason the stuff that bothered me about the jock type all sounded so endearing when coming from him. And Roald gives me those same vibes in NH.

Now I'm feeling better about seeing where the game takes me.

And it's a shame I have to purchase a monthly account in order to trade villagers with people, because one of my favourite things in New Leaf was giving away villagers to other people, and I wish we had something like the Main Street where we could see some of the ones who moved out!

 

[Imbri]

I've always gone into these games with the idea of meeting new faces, so a list of dreamies isn't something I've considered deal breaking. That being said, there were a couple of villagers I actively recruited because I haven't seen them since ACGC days and really missed them. And ACNH has a lot of GC vibes for me, so it felt right.

So, Sally and Gruff were specifically brought in. The others were completely new or villagers I'd had a little bit of contact with before. It's created an interesting mix and something better, I think, than if I had curated all 10 plots.

But the great thing about this game is that it can be played from so many angles that it becomes unique to each player.

 

[alias]

I feel this!!

I make stories/lore for my towns and my NH island is one that has a few permies and a few floaters--I like doing this because it keeps things fresh for me. I go a little bananas if things are constant for too long.
I was supposed to have half of my town be floaters, but I've gotten so attached to a few of my villagers that I'm down to two (????) floaters !? Help.

In NL Monty was my grumpy love and because of that sentimentality I wanted him so bad for NH. Before I got Monty though, I ran into Static on a mystery island (who is another grumpy) and... I was holding onto him because I was supposed to trade him, but I had to cancel the trades because I fell in love with him!!

I now have a list of villagers I'd LIKE to see in my town... But at the moment I'm very attached to the ones already living in mine, so I suppose only time will tell if the current residents will become my dreamies, or if I'll eventually let them go to other people so I can keep searching.

BUT YEAH... Attachment is definitely messing with my dreamies list! In a good way, hehe.

@Raz GOODNESS, You love Monty too!!!!!! <3 I'm so happy he's loved!!

 

[Spunki]

I like encountering new villagers to spice things up a bit, because having always the same villagers in every town gets boring after a while. I know I have certain Dreamies and I don’t deny that I will scan them in eventually, but that’s like 3 or 4 Villagers. The rest can change, depending on which one moves out.
Like for now Pashmina moved out and I found Hopper on a Mystery Island, so I invited him over, because I always wanted to have a different villager. It was just so sudden, because otherwise I would have looked for a different Uchi, until I would have found one. Maybe because he looked really unique. I mostly go for the more rare looking villagers, even if they are not that popular.

Otherwise I’m okay with Monty. Never hated the Monkeys as others do and he is a great cranky ngl. So he can stay until he moves out. Still not a Dreamie, but not hated.

 

[Paperboy012305]

I may be the only Cashmere lover on the whole forums. But prior to Welcome Amiibo, I thought she was super ugly. And when I learned that she was part of the Welcome Amiibo update, I felt devastated. One day I thought I gave her a try as if you can't beat em', join em', and I actually grew to like her.

Now that New Horizons is out, and I moved in Diana, I kinda want Cashmere over her as my snooty. But I don't have her Amiibo card, so I can't just switch between her and Diana at will.

 

[Mairmalade]

I've always been pretty 'go with the flow' for villagers to reflect a natural cycle of moving in / out. Not every animal is going to love my island forever (sniff).

Totally with you on perfectionism though. There are a couple villagers that I MUST have, but the new house exteriors are so unique and cater well to different types of islands (e.g.: Audie's goes well with a beach theme, Tasha's goes well with more of a luxurious theme). Makes me want to try and get villagers I've never considered before like Zucker to place him near my Japanese garden area.

 

[kuseiro]

I totally feel this. I ofc, was dead-set on finding Marshal, but I ran into so many villagers that I've now kept (Filbert, Judy, Apple, Wolfgang) and even left islands with my old NL absolute die-for dreamies (Merengue, Lolly, etc).

 

[Noctis]

With this game I didn't really have a set list but I did wanted villagers that I never manage to make it in both of my new leaf towns. Rudy, Zucker and Punchy were three of them and well sadly only Zucker has been obtained. Instead I decided to take it cool and if I saw a villager that appeal to me I would bring them over. Right now I'm very happy with my list of villagers except for one but that's okay at the mean time.

 

[Jillenium]

do you have beau yet? i've been trying to get him to move out for ages (i don't time travel)

I have Beau, he’s cute, just “persuaded” Graham to leave, he’s way annoying

 

[Jam86]

i don't mind beau but i know others do want him that's why i haven't forced him out with amiibos

 

[hammyc]

I’m a micromanager too. I had all ten dream villagers I thought I would want for my island planned out, who would live together, etc.
Then I got Chrissy as a random move in and fell in love with her slowly. No big deal, I’ll switch out X villager for Chrissy and all will remain the same. Then I started feeling like Chrissy deserved to have her sister nearby. With the whole quarantine I really have been missing my brother so I started feeling bad for her LOL, so I swapped another dream villager for Francine, etc. at this point, I have changed three villagers from my original plan and I’m really glad I did! I love all of my villagers and they still work together how I had originally imagined.

I would say if you find your heart changing with what you want, just go for it and readjust! What we think we want with all things in life may change over time and you don’t want to let someone go that you love and regret it later potentially