do the NH aesthetics compare with the NL ones?

[biibii]

we all remember those foresty tumblr blogs where everything was pink or white and every single town had a bus stop and pink glow heart, and every town was beautiful and nice to look at. do you think NH gives off the same “beauty” or nostalgic feeling that NL does ? do the tumblr blogs compare ? the rainy feel, night time pictures, how do you feel about this topic.


i just started thinking about it while scrolling through my tumblr for the first time in MANY years and seeing all the NL blogs i used to follow.

 

[toenuki]

imo they really cant be compared due to the systems- NH is AMAZING graphic wise bc of the new system. plus you can display literally anything outside, not just PWPs

 

[greenvoldemort]

well NH has loads more going for it, for instance the amazing graphics! and the new flowers and the ability to use loads new feature making inclines!

 

[tajikey]

I believe personally that NH is graphically leaps and bounds ahead of NL.

 

[Uffe]

New Horizons looks vastly superior than New Leaf. I've seen some islands that have pastel looking colors, but not a whole lot.

 

[Le Ham]

Maybe not quite the same aesthetics as NL. The two games have different approaches to aesthetics - NL had a lot of shiny/glossy going on, while NH is more flat and clean-looking - see the endless solid green carpet in NH known as grass, compare with NL. However, putting aesthetic and graphical differences aside, the skies/weather in both games are stunning and flowers are pretty. I like the NH villager house exteriors better than the NL ones.

Something I don't like is how custom patterns don't fit in as well in NH as they did in NL, but that's an unfortunate consequence of the graphical differences and having pixel art in a HD game

 

[Jacob]

I don't think as many people are being challanged to design new paths anymore, so I think some of the pathing in New Leaf were much more exciting/aesthetic. NH is clearly nicer looking than NL tho

 

[Believe]

I think ACNH has aged so well in terms of graphics. I often find myself missing the old pokemon sprites and such and even find most of the new 3d pokemon models quite ugly. AC looks all around better in New Horizons I think. Maybe because it's always been 3d models, but it just feels so much more vibrant and clear while still maintaining a cute aesthetic.

 

[moonbox]

ACNH looks so much better than ACNL... I think ACNL aged poorly

 

[Romaki]

I can't look back at New Leaf anymore, it's so pixelated now in comparison. I do think New Horizons is more than capable of recreating that special feeling, I've seen enough completed islands to be more than envious. But it also just looks good, you don't need to force an aesthethic to have a pretty experience. Real paths and real water just beats design patterns.

 

[0kamu0]

Honestly it hurts me to look at NL now. Beyond graphics, a lot of the clothing and furniture just looks so tacky aha. Still adore that game though, but I would have a hard time going back

 

[Le Ham]

a lot of the clothing and furniture just looks so tacky

I present to you: the smokin hot runway looks of New Leaf

 

[Neechan]

I present to you: the smokin hot runway looks of New Leaf

i actually like the crewel tee

 

[pocky]

my personal aesthetic hasn't changed much between the two games

i'm still keeping my mess of colorful flowers/clutter aesthetic alive

 

[nekosync]

i don't really miss the pink & white towns because i've seen them a little too much

just playing animal crossing on a tv gives me nostalgic city folk vibes! i also really like the soundtrack and i feel like i'll probably look back fondly on that too when the next instalment comes out / when i stop playing

Post automatically merged: May 27, 2020

Honestly it hurts me to look at NL now. Beyond graphics, a lot of the clothing and furniture just looks so tacky aha. Still adore that game though, but I would have a hard time going back

i have no idea how i spent 1000+ hours playing it on a tiny 3ds screen
it's starting to resemble wild world for me

 

[tajikey]

I can't look back at New Leaf anymore, it's so pixelated now in comparison. I do think New Horizons is more than capable of recreating that special feeling, I've seen enough completed islands to be more than envious. But it also just looks good, you don't need to force an aesthethic to have a pretty experience. Real paths and real water just beats design patterns.

Try going back to City Folk. My 9-year old son fired up a Switch for the first time (Wii arm, anyone?) this past weekend, popped in City Folk, and I laughed/cried/cringed at what I was seeing. I then proceeded to text my buddy to say, "Man, Animal Crossing has come a long way since City Folk." I felt really bad when my son asked how to put the scarecrow furniture piece outside...

 

[Romaki]

Try going back to City Folk. My 9-year old son fired up a Switch for the first time (Wii arm, anyone?) this past weekend, popped in City Folk, and I laughed/cried/cringed at what I was seeing. I then proceeded to text my buddy to say, "Man, Animal Crossing has come a long way since City Folk." I felt really bad when my son asked how to put the scarecrow furniture piece outside...

Never played City Folk, but I recently found an used Wild World copy and that game feels like a relic. How did we enjoy these games back then??

 

[sleepydreepy]

The NH aesthetics overall are more "modern" and "trendy," in reference to clothing styles and furniture types.
But as to what you were remembering of specific town styles-

I remember a long time ago in NL when it was really popular to have complete furniture "sets" in your houses (such as the princess and mermaid set). It seemed like every dream address house had these, and also had specific custom design style paths, etc. But then I remember there was a major shift, and suddenly the "messy" look became super popular. This sparked the "overgrown forest town" trend (often with black and white flowers only), and the mixing and matching (or unmatching) of furniture in your houses. I am interested to see how the aesthetic evolves in NH, it seems like now the "messy forest" look has carried over on some islands, however there are a lot of more "developed" islands out there too because of those popular "5 star island" tours on YouTube. The game is still newish so I feel like people are still crafting their islands, but once more finished islands emerge online, perhaps there will be another aesthetic revolution that will become the new popular style for islands in NH.

 

[Licorice]

For me acnl was not my first ac game so I feel no nostalgia for it at all. I always thought those “foresty” tumblr towns looked super cluttered and ugly. NH is way prettier. I visited my acnl town for the first time in 2 years the other day and the graphics give me a headache. It’s hard to look at. Same reason why I can’t play ww anymore. The console versions hold up so much better.

 

[Hirisa]

Graphically, ACNH is miles ahead of ACNL, just because we're looking at updated rendering techniques and a bunch of other technical stuff I don't have the vocabulary for. Aesthetically, whether ACNH or ACNL is better is all personal preference. The big trends of ACNL were overtly fantasy-like: pink towns, pastel towns, fairytale stuff and lots of sweets and cartoon-scaled props. ACNH's biggest trends skew just a little more toward realism: suburban towns, mostly Japan-inspired, and the various iterations of "cottagecore," an idealized form of rustic minimalism that, although influenced by whimsical sources like Ghibli films and shows like "Over the Garden Wall," tends to come across as a little self-serious.

In both ACNH trends, the palettes are subdued and there is an emphasis on very small details and textures in the environment. And even though we can easily identify these different trends in both games, that doesn't mean all players are adhering to any of them! So there is no way to really say "x is better than y" or whatever. But we can (and definitely should!) compare the aesthetic trends between the games and draw conclusions about what the comparisons "say" about the players and the historical and cultural contexts that the games emerged from. Well, I like to do that anyway. It's a fun way to understand the times we live in.