I feel stressed when I look at other people's super perfect islands and then look at mine which I've barely done anything with But when I unplug and just play the game in my own little world, it doesn't bother me. I'm not good at designing and it's not a super important feature of the game to me, so without the "pressure" to play like everyone else and make my island look good, I just ignore the new features. Unless I get a cool idea that I really want to implement - eg I dug a moat around my house lol - then I enjoy them!
I don’t like that some people are trying so hard and make these complex beautiful islands with each square of space cluttered with items. It just doesn’t feel like AC to me and it gives me stress. Especially when these people claim their island is not looking good. Makes me feel even worse when I look at mine.
I mean stress as in the feeling I have to compete and impress. I think the freedom in this game is a blessing if you’re creative and know what you want but otherwise it’s just stressful.
I started over about a week ago and I’m already stressing about how I will terraform and design my island. I didn’t have this with City Folk and New Leaf. It was all just about enjoying the daily activities in my town and making the best of what the game gave you. Now with NH it’s like a competition between players and I don’t like it at all.
This game is meant to be calming but it’s the opposite for me. I just wish people weren’t flexing all the time with their islands.
At the start of the game I definitely did feel very stressed and overwhelmed, due to it being a new game for me (it was my first AC game) and also the fact that I usually don't play any building games or similar genres. I even took a break for a little over a month, since all I ever did in the game at the start was grind for stuff to sell on here. However, during the past month I have really fell in love with this game again! The recent build competitions has really gotten me to enjoy building again and decorating my island, so i'm very grateful for those. Also, I just got into making my own custom designs and clothing in the game yesterday, and I'm really loving that so far as well! I think the key to being happy with the game is just to take things slow. Don't compare your island or yourself to others, because there's always gonna be someone else around the corner with a better island than you or better design skills, that's just how it is. Hopefully my recent love for this game carries on for a while longer, but in conclusion, yes I currently feel very blessed to play this game.
Blessed and no longer stressed. Even though I played NL, I had no idea what to expect with ACNH so all of the new features were very intimidating to me. I took inspiration from ACNH accounts on Instagram and it was fun for awhile, but then I started following more accounts on social media, saw so many different themed islands and decided I wanted to re-do my entire island xD After I reset, I felt so much more relieved that I had a blank slate. Even though I loved Rakuen (my first island), I wasn't extremely happy with my initial map layout and after I took some time in resetting hell, I finally landed on a map I was somewhat satisfied with.
Now I watched a couple of island tours and was amazed by this one island tour I came across--they had kept their initial map layout and barely did any terraforming (maybe added a couple waterfalls here and there), but it still looked amazing! I thought, this is what I want to do with my own island; build around what I have and not try to tear everything down. I eventually regained all motivation and just took my ideas and ran with it. I do some interior designing IRL (not as a job, but within my own house) so interior design is what really makes the game fun for me. Once my island started coming together, it was a lot easier to determine what ideas would go where. Generally how I go about designing is I'll just look at empty spaces on my island and visualize what I could do with the size of the space. I always start with trees--I think they're the backbone of my island and are great space fillers.
I feel blessed. I always wanted these things in New Leaf:
- To put furniture outside
- To customize furniture without waiting 30 minutes and to be able to see what the final product will look like before doing it
- To have some built-in pathing options
- More custom design slots without making more characters
- To be able to move villagers' houses and shops to better spots aesthetically
- To be able to move PWPs easier (which they did for non-bridges by making them furniture)
NH gave all of those things to me and things I didn't think about, such as fences and terraforming (never thought the latter would ever get in AC!).
NL is still a great game, don't get me wrong. There's definitely furniture in that game that I miss and hope comes back eventually (it's possible - we got mermaid set back recently). I also miss being able to use others' custom designs WITHOUT having an online account.
NH does frustrate me in some aspects for sure, but I do really like how customizable things are. Customization has always been my favorite aspect of AC, and each main AC game has been giving us more power to make our town/island our own.
When I first got the game on launch I felt super blessed since it’s been many years since I played AC. After maybe 1 month in I started seeing people’s cool islands and the state of the trade market and felt very stressed. For instance, it didn’t occur to me to reset until I got the perfect layout and I got stressed after finding out that lots of people did that
Blessed for the most part. The game doesn't stress me... I'm not competing with anyone and I play to enjoy and pass the time. The only parts I find stressful are having to dedicate too much time to digging up flowers, clearing space, storing diys... but that's because I tend to hoard and care too much about not throwing things out.
It doesn't stress me out because I realize there will always be an island out there "better". So basically just make it in a way that makes you happy and don't care about what others think. So blessed it is.
I find it a lot more stressful because with such power comes bigger responsibility. It's okay for my New Leaf town to look like an overgrown wasteland because it's from another time. In New Horizons, we can do so much -- yet so little -- that I find myself tearing my hair out at the slightest imperfections I see. Why? Because, unlike in New Leaf, I know I can do better. Yet "better" will never be perfect.
For example, at first I was stoked to find that we can put down immediate paths in this game, but now that I've played it for a while, I am disappointed all over again because I want even more from the paths. Maybe one day they'll update the game with more natural-looking paths without us having to resort to "the path" qr codes...
To answer your question, I was "blessed" when I started playing and was soon cursed when I realized just how stressed out/dissatisfied I am with the current options.
stressed at times, but overall i greatly enjoy designing my island when inspiration hits me. tho i do know what it's like to just wanna chuck your island into the void and start all over xd
at the beginning i was a bit stressed but now i'm definitely blessed.
compared to my new leaf town i've made so much progress on my island in new horizons! and no, my island is nowhere near finished but i feel like i actually genuinely enjoy this game which makes me happy that i didn't give up on it before, despite going through the period of not feeling motivated to do anything on my island few months ago. while my journey with new leaf was more on the enjoyable side, i ended up feeling too overwhelmed with the lack of ability to move certain things around after putting them somewhere which in new horizons - for the most part - is actually possible... well, it was possible in new leaf if someone hacked their town (which is 100% fine with me!) but i never did it so if i noticed that something didn't seem perfect in my eye i ended up feeling very bothered by it, especially after i saw all these screenshots of amazing looking towns on the internet. it ain't that deep to some people but i really can't stand not being able to fix things if they end up not looking as good as i first intended them to be (life without ocd would be much much easier, ehh) which lead me to resetting my town over and over again. in new horizons i still have days when i end up not feeling good about certain areas on my island, especially after i visit other towns through dream adresses but i'm not too bothered because in the end i can always switch it up!
honestly? a bit of both. i find that i can’t look at many pics of people’s islands as it leaves me feeling stressed for not being creative in terms of item placement and terraforming but at the same time, i’m blessed because i’m actually making an effort to plan things out and my island is slowly but surely becoming a lot nicer than any of my new leaf towns ever were aha
Neither? xD
I don’t particularly care what my island looks like
I’m having fun designing my home and putting my villagers where I want them to be and scanning my favourite amiibos.
I don’t really feel like terraforming or placing furniture outside I don’t like doing that much. I think what I’ll do is make nice paths between my houses and breed pretty hybrids and just make pleasing colour combinations with the flowers and fruit trees
idk, neutral I guess. though I do love the variety in options we have now, compared to before. like to the point where this is the first game I've actually done serious decorating for my town
though I just do stuff as it comes to mind, and don't worry about it otherwise. even with the dream towns feature now being added, I feel no rush to complete everything right away
But when I unplug and just play the game in my own little world, it doesn't bother me. I'm not good at designing and it's not a super important feature of the game to me, so without the "pressure" to play like everyone else and make my island look good, I just ignore the new features. Unless I get a cool idea that I really want to implement - eg I dug a moat around my house lol - then I enjoy them!
The game doesn't stress me... I'm not competing with anyone and I play to enjoy and pass the time. The only parts I find stressful are having to dedicate too much time to digging up flowers, clearing space, storing diys... but that's because I tend to hoard and care too much about not throwing things out.
