I need some serious advice :/

[x0xindy]

So I've been working on my town for about 6 months now. I really wanted to make it a Pok?mon Fire Red/Leaf Green town, so I found a grass pattern from the games and put it down everywhere in place of the ACNL grass, made patterns by hand from scratch for paths, fences etc, and I've put a lot of work into building my town, planting stuff and paying off my loan. I was even planning on making a house for the Pok?mon lab, a house for the Pok?mon League Elite Four and Champion Blue and a house for Trainer Red. (I had so many cool ideas for this.)

I know that I can just sell my town and start with a bunch of bells (I think when I got my appraisal last it was worth about 15million), so the money isn't the issue. It's just that I feel like the concept was great but the actual way it looks in the town and how it's displaying is really lame. I don't think anyone would be able to tell that it's a pokemon themed town (and I don't know how to make it more obvious aside from the flower Pokeball and the pokemon flag and the paths I have down and stuff) and I'm just getting really discouraged about the whole thing after not being able to find other people with completely patterned towns. I have some mild OCD so the way the grass pattern looks when I have to put flowers down or when it meets diagonal edges (Where it goes like this, See below) drives me nuts and I'm so stressed that it doesn't look good.
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I'm really thinking about just starting from scratch and making a new town with a normal, not completely patterned theme. Maybe inviting some people in to get an actual opinion that's not mine would be good? I don't know. I just feel really crappy about destroying a town I've put so much work into but I'm a perfectionist so it's REALLY REALLY bothering me that the town doesn't look as good as I envisioned. Can anyone give me some advice?

 

[michealsmells]

Well maybe I'm a bit biased but theming towns ain't really my style. When I do decide to theme them like I'm doing with Alleyway it's best to make it as open in theme as possible so this exact situation doesn't happen. I'm sure you put a lot of heart into your town and I apploud you for that but if it isn't working then it isn't working. Now, I'm not sure if you wanna restart it cause I always feel bad for restarting towns, but I'd say rework the place. Maybe don't make things so exact? You'll never be able to have a town that looks exactly like the games but you sure as heck can have one that's clearly inspired.

 

[x0xindy]

I appreciate that! I think the grass patterns not matching up everywhere is what's killing me the most. I was thinking about reworking instead of actually restarting but then when I was looking around I realized that there are so many rocks completely wrecking potential placement of symmetrical bushes (being two spaces away from one side of the caf? or a PWP for example OH MY GOD I HATE ROCKS SO MUCH), that I'd probably like restarting a little more. I only have two villagers in that town that I really love (I hadn't started cycling or anything yet) and I have the Amiibo card for one of them, so I could just send the other one to my second DS game and restart. Blehhhh!

 

[Mairen]

I sounds like you are leaning more towards restarting, but I thought I'd offer my thoughts. Perhaps what went wrong is you were trying to make your town exactly like the pokemon games, rather than something inspired from them. Because it wasn't exactly like the games, you feel like it isn't very good. Whether you choose to give your town a makeover or start over completely, try to keep in mind that you might find yourself more pleased having a few things around your town that could be a tribute to the games, but trying to transform the world of animal crossing into the world of pokemon might of been you being too hard on yourself, despite the creative freedoms the game has.

 

[Khaelis]

Honestly, if it isn't turning out how you envisioned, and you're OK with restarting and starting something easier to manage, you should restart. There's no satisfaction in continuing something that will not improve.

Just be aware that if you sell, you HAVE to pick one of the four town maps provided to you, or else the Bells will be lost.

 

[x0xindy]

@Mairen: Yeah I definitely think you might be right there. I just looked around the internet and I saw a few good Legend of Zelda towns (where they'd covered their grass and everything!) that looked amazing, I figured I could do the same thing with a Pok?mon theme and it definitely has not turned out as good. I'm 100% on the fence right now, I'll definitely at least be cycling out some villagers, I'll probably pony up and come to a decision tonight. The bad layout of the rocks and things is more what's pushing me to restart instead of remodel.

Khaelis: I'm pretty sure the other night when I restarted my OTHER town (got the game through ebay and still had another town) I was actually able to shut off the DS and choose another map! Granted I had to go through the whole process of appraisal and selling again but I'm almost 99.9% sure I was able to do it!

 

[BambieTheMayor]

Just be aware that if you sell, you HAVE to pick one of the four town maps provided to you, or else the Bells will be lost.

Even after you sell your town, it won't save anything until you plant your tree. At
least, it didn't for me. If you turn your DS off and back on before your tree is planted and you unlock the ability to save freely, it'll just act like you never sold your town and everything will go back to normal.

That's how I got Fang. I kept restarting over and over until I got a good map/villager combo, and I still got the 27mill Nook promised me.

 

[CaramelCookie]

Not sure if this might help you, but in this video they visit a dream town that's almost 100% patterned to match the zelda games: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RK9EtYUOfRE

 

[honeyblossom]

Just another thought, maybe in addition to it being too straightforward rather than inspired by, it might also be your own inability to see it with someone else's eyes. You've been staring at this same town for 6 months now, and it doesn't look like how you envisioned it in your head. Just like when drawing a picture, you can become disappointed with the outcome because it's not what you're seeing in your mind. Which is unsurprising given the severe limitations the game puts on PWPs, where plants can grow, where houses can be placed, etc. You have a concept and to you, what you're seeing and what you want to see aren't the same thing. But that's almost always the case. It's hard to look at something you've done and not see the "flaws" in it, all the little things that bug you about the position of this, or the placement of that.

I seriously hated my town when I picked the game back up a few months ago. I told the two friends who were still playing that I was going to build my town up to the point where I could sell it and start all over. While doing that, I started getting invested in the design I was building, but I still hated it. I thought, well this is the best I can do, it's only temporary, so I suppose it's fine. Then I started going to the Island to find silver axes for an idea I had one day, and had to go to 42 islands before I finally got them. And in the process I met some people. And then more people from their towns and so on and so forth. And they all had great towns and I felt even worse about mine, because it looked nothing like these really great towns, towns that I wanted to build for myself. I'd always visit them but never offered for them to come over. And then one day I opened my gates to shake trees and one of my friends came over after seeing my town was open. And then another one came a few minutes later, and they was going on and on about how much they loved my town, about their favorite areas, how much they loved this or that. And at first I thought they were being nice but then more people came and said the same things and asked questions about how I did this or that. And I realized, I only hated my town because it's not what I wanted. It's still not what I'm seeing in my mind. And I'm still not sure if I'll restart. I might just get a second game, because I'm starting to love parts of my town too and might just even love most of my town one day. I'll never forgive where I put the Roost though, literally one tile out of place with Re-Tail...

So anyways, long post aside, maybe you should invite people in to see. Every time someone new comes over and has something good to say about my town, I get a little boost of confidence in it. Or you could share your dream address if you don't want anyone in your town yet. Maybe you'll get positive feedback that will help you sort through your feelings. Or maybe you'll realize even with the positive feedback you still don't love your town and then you'll know for sure that it's time to restart.