I'm Not Connecting With the Game

[grrrolf]

Anyone else feel this way? I think back on my experiences of playing GC, Wild World, City Folk, and New Leaf for the first time and remember how amazing everything felt. New Horizons is great, but I'm not feeling that deep connection like I did in the other games, especially to my villagers. I loved talking to them every day. Now I get excited to talk to them only for them to say generic lines I've heard before. Maybe the Bunny Day event caused it, because it made everything annoying for 12 days straight and my villagers won't talk about anything else. All of the eggs everywhere also really took me out of the natural, deserted island feeling of the game. I'm hoping it "clicks" with me soon now that it's over.

 

[navleost]

I get you. I have some really cute Villagers, but most of them say the same things every time i talk to them. Like Rhonda is so cute looking. But everytime i talk to her she only talks about her dads cooking.. Really its the same sentence every day: "i thought of my dads" insert dish" so i gave him a call". There is no reward to talking to them every day, and no consequence either.

 

[grrrolf]

I get you. I have some really cute Villagers, but most of them say the same things every time i talk to them. Like Rhonda is so cute looking. But everytime i talk to her she only talks about her dads cooking.. Really its the same sentence every day: "i thought of my dads" insert dish" so i gave him a call". There is no reward to talking to them every day, and no consequence either.

Yes! Goldie does this for me, that exact same line! A lot of them have these one liners that don't even open up the "talk to me" option and are super repetitive. It really sucks, because I've been thinking since the game was announced that villager dialogue is the one thing that will make or break the game for me.

 

[Kaioin]

I feel like this sometimes mainly because of the stuff missing from the game (I personally think reviews were way too positive, there's a lot missing from the game that probably should be in there). The villagers are just so disappointing though; boring, repetitive, there's no reason to really talk to them at all and I usually don't anymore, I just wait until they run over to me to talk to teach me a new emotion or something.

It's pretty commonly accepted villagers get less interesting each game but they took an absolute nose dive in NH.

 

[eat]

The villagers will repeat the same few lines until you develop a deeper friendship with them. As the friendship deepens, they'll also start sending letters and gifts to you more frequently. Also unlike NL, the game encourages you to talk to them repeatedly. When a villager asks me to do a favour for them (return an item, catch a butterfly etc.) it takes at least 3 or 4 times of initiating conversation.

Basically, I think they're trying to imitate real life relationships where if they don't really know you, there's no reason for them to act all friendly with you and they want the player to put in an effort to create a friendship with the villagers.

 

[Mosshead]

I understand how you feel as for the first few weeks of playing NH, I kept hearing the same things over and over again from most of my villagers even when I do take a break from talking to them for a few hours. However, I've started to notice my villagers opening up to me more these few days and having new lines I've never even seen before. Just today, Deirdre and Kody have given me 4-5 different dialogues which was really surprising as they were the main offenders in dialogue repeating.

As such, I agree with what others have said here; do give your villagers a few more days/week as they do open up and offer much better dialogue, not just one-liners.

 

[grrrolf]

I'm glad to hear there's still hope for the dialogue to get better! I was worried I'd be hearing these same few lines forever. I do talk to them every day - I guess just not enough because of how frustrated I was getting with the repetitive bunny day lines.

 

[navleost]

The villagers will repeat the same few lines until you develop a deeper friendship with them. As the friendship deepens, they'll also start sending letters and gifts to you more frequently. Also unlike NL, the game encourages you to talk to them repeatedly. When a villager asks me to do a favour for them (return an item, catch a butterfly etc.) it takes at least 3 or 4 times of initiating conversation.

Basically, I think they're trying to imitate real life relationships where if they don't really know you, there's no reason for them to act all friendly with you and they want the player to put in an effort to create a friendship with the villagers.

I have a few Villagers Who are sending me letters and give me presents. But the issue is also that i trade a lot. So a lot of People visit my Island. And my Villagers, Even the ones im good friends with wont shut up about the random People visiting my Island. I hear 5 times a day "hey somebody from whoville visited the other day. I Hope they come back"

And they do this Even if the person was only on my Island for 2 sec. And didnt talk to anybody.

 

[grrrolf]

I have a few Villagers Who are sending me letters and give me presents. But the issue is also that i trade a lot. So a lot of People visit my Island. And my Villagers, Even the ones im good friends with wont shut up about the random People visiting my Island. I hear 5 times a day "hey somebody from whoville visited the other day. I Hope they come back"

And they do this Even if the person was only on my Island for 2 sec. And didnt talk to anybody.

I'm having this issue too. It used to be that if the person didn't talk to the villager, they wouldn't mention them. Now if someone enters your island at all they'll talk about them. I'm always like who from where? lol

 

[Katy88]

I am finding that the dialogue improves as the relationships develop, but I'm getting really sick of them complaining that I talk to them too much! I'm sure they weren't this sensitive about it in previous games?

I've just spoken to Canberra for the third time today, and she asked whether she needs to move to another island to get away from me... and she was one of my starter villagers! It's funny, but it does put me off interacting.

 

[Kaioin]

I am finding that the dialogue improves as the relationships develop, but I'm getting really sick of them complaining that I talk to them too much! I'm sure they weren't this sensitive about it in previous games?

I've just spoken to Canberra for the third time today, and she asked whether she needs to move to another island to get away from me... and she was one of my starter villagers! It's funny, but it does put me off interacting.

I didn't mind that tough love kind of thing when the characters had more depth to them and it was the response of someone who didn't really know you that well, now it just sounds like they're bored of you!

 

[Foxxie]

I'm actually incredibly surprised because most of my villagers have awesome, rich dialogue... particularly those who I talk to a lot. I can't say I relate to OP because I adore this game. I normally wouldn't comment, but seeing so many people talking about bad dialogue is very strange to me, because the dialogue is one of my favourite parts, particularly Erik who says some absolutely bonkers stuff and makes me laugh out loud pretty much every time I talk to him XD

 

[Arrei]

I'd also like to add that I think it takes a little changing of your mindset to really appreciate our villagers this time around. Their dialogue isn't as varied as it was before, possibly to make room for all the context-aware dialogue they use about nearby fixtures and buildings, your own activity the previous day, etcetera... But I really appreciate all the random actions they can do this game and it makes them feel more alive instead of just being dialogue dispensers.

Back in the GCN days they'd just pace aimlessly all day, and chase the occasional ball, unable to even hold actual conversations with other townies. But the other night I spied one of my villagers walking away from the living area I'd set him up in, and just followed him as he walked down the road. He talked to a neighbor at the crossroads, passing on his custom catchphrase to her, stopped to observe a fluttering cherry blossom for a while, passed through the town square noticing a flower that needed watering and then greeting a neighbor who happened to be there, then continued down towards the museum to have a sit under a tree behind it. Then he began to work out before noticing a stinkbug and running up to it, then continued to work out while staring intensely at it.

While I'm aware it's all just pretend acting they just feel like characters a lot more now.

 

[Hsn97]

I feel you. For the first time ever, I reset my first AC town. I’m hoping that fresh look at the game will help me gel with it better but I don’t know. The game just feel so empty to me. Not to mention that the events at the moment are just irritating. Too many eggs, not being able to get Sakura recipes, taking literally hours to get all the fishing tourney rewards.

I think I’m probably just going to get another copy of NL and start a new town there.

 

[Annika.]

I really miss doing nothing in Wild World and still playing 10 hours a day on summer break.

The worst thing about New Horizons is when the characters are stuck in dialogue. The bunny hellweek was absolutely terrible, you go talk to them, they say egg and then you go talk to them again and then they act as if talking to them a second time is already annoying to them.

 

[roseychuu]

I have a few Villagers Who are sending me letters and give me presents. But the issue is also that i trade a lot. So a lot of People visit my Island. And my Villagers, Even the ones im good friends with wont shut up about the random People visiting my Island. I hear 5 times a day "hey somebody from whoville visited the other day. I Hope they come back"

And they do this Even if the person was only on my Island for 2 sec. And didnt talk to anybody.

I find this so annoying, I wish maybe they would stick only to people on your friend or best friend list rather than randos who come visit? I don't even remember over half the in game names of the people I do trades with ;;

 

[Altarium]

I can see why people think villager dialogue is very repetitive this time around. I was starting to feel the same way. Until today.

Maybe it's because Bunny Day is finally over, or because I've spent a good deal of time with my villagers, but they all had such amazing things to say today, I was very pleasantly surprised.

For example, in the span of a couple of minutes:

- Reneigh has asked me about what type of coffee I like, and has told me about her rough life and how she'll be there if I ever need a shoulder to cry on.
- Diana has talked about her past life and how she fell in a puddle when she was younger, and right after that asked me to play a game of treasure hunting.
- Julian has complimented my outfit and asked me if I had any fashion tips or trends I followed so he could take notes.

I do have to say, I get the best dialogue when I speak with a villager 3 or more times in a row. Not only once every time I run into them across the day. Now they don't even seem to get annoyed, they're like "Lovely to see you so often today!", and they take a while to point out how much I'm talking to them. I'm also observing differences across the same personality, as Skye and Marina are starting to act differently and say their own things, which I really appreciate.

 

[Lavulin98]

I find this so annoying, I wish maybe they would stick only to people on your friend or best friend list rather than randos who come visit? I don't even remember over half the in game names of the people I do trades with ;;

It still happens to me with random traders but if you have same friends coming over, they will remember them. I have my best friends visiting my town almost daily, and my villagers talk a lot about them. Its very nice and funny and keep sending each other screenshots with the gossips of the villagers.

 

[roseychuu]

It still happens to me with random traders but if you have same friends coming over, they will remember them. I have my best friends visiting my town almost daily, and my villagers talk a lot about them. Its very nice and funny and keep sending each other screenshots with the gossips of the villagers.

AAA I'll keep this in mind actually, thank you! the screenshot idea sounds so cute!! I'll have to host more little parties at my island and have friends over!

 

[grrrolf]

Thanks everyone! It makes me really happy to read that the dialogue gets more varied and rich as time goes on. It's still currently 1 am for me so bunny day isn't over yet, but I'm hoping today will be a good day full of some new dialogue finally! I'll try talking to them 3-4 times in a row as suggested.