Lack of total control over your villagers can be a good thing... no?

[CrankyCupcake]

Often I read online comments from players that they wish to be able to completely re-do their residents' home interiors or get rid of accessories and clothes their islanders already own. I recall one time when a discussion centered around being able to create your own animals with different body parts!

To me, when different residents have different lifestyles and preferences in home decor or fashion, it's part of the charm that gives each of them a more distinct personality. (Especially so when all animals of a particular personality type already have the same dialogue lines.) While I understand that, most of the time, we want more control of a game to customize things, I feel that if I could completely dictate what my residents should or should not have, personally, I would start seeing them as lacking any character of their own. They would cease to be "real" for me. In life, we don't try to tell our friends how to decorate or dress themselves. We like them for who they are and nobody's perfect. (Yes, AC is not real life, I'm aware. )

How much control or power do you want in the game? What kind of control is preferable for you: More control over the environment (for instance, being able to place rugs outside) or more control over your residents (for instance, revamp their house interior)? Can the lack of control be a motivating factor because it encourages creativity? Or is it always a bad thing and players should always be granted god-like powers?

Someone please sell me an OFF switch for my brain.

 

[Matt0106]

Don't worry, you don't need an off-switch! What you said is what I agree with; there's only so much control players should be allowed to have. The games were not always intended to allow us to control everything, and I like having some things out of my control, because I means it's not worth worrying about.

I can understand why people what to change up everything, but Nintendo has given us a gifting option and people have even cracked the code on that and have gotten it to work in their favourite. Therefore, I personally don't think we should be requesting even more, butt that's just me. The ONE way I could see people getting their wish that would be realistic game-wise, is if the Happy Home Academy came to your island and hired you, and then your villagers could request to fix up their house.

 

[LadyDestani]

I agree with you. I've always seen Animal Crossing as more of a life sim and not a world building game. The added customization is nice, but I actually don't like how that's taken precedence over meaningful interactions with our villagers in the later iterations of the game.

I don't feel a need to control everything my villagers do or wear or display in their homes. The only thing that I wish is that they wouldn't fill their homes with fish and bugs and clothing instead of furniture. I want to be able to fill requests for my villagers and have their house still look like a home. But I like gifting my villagers furniture and letting them switch up their decorations every now and then.

 

[deana]

I totally agree with you that having too much control over them definitely breaks the illusion of them as little independent beings. Even with moving their houses... I totally appreciate having the ability to do this but the dialog when you ask Tom Nook about moving is really cringe to me. "Do you want to move where -player- wants you to move?" Like who honestly says yes to that.

I don't think the role of the player is to have absolute power over the villagers, they are meant to be friends! Personally I feel like New Horizons has a pretty good balance of control vs the villagers still being somewhat independent.

 

[xlisapisa]

I definitely wouldn’t want control over my villagers! They deserve to have their house the way they want it and not the way I want them to have it. As you stated above, same personalities already have the same dialogue so at least let them be different by their interior decor! I guess putting rugs outside and terraforming the beach area would be a plus, but that is definitely not a necessity for me either. I feel we have just the right amount of power that we need and should have.

 

[Xara]

i agree with you 100%! i, personally, don’t want total control over my villagers. i prefer for them to have whatever clothing + furniture that they desire and i feel no need to try and customize them - them being able to get things for themselves and to make their own decisions makes them feel more real to me, which i like c’:

 

[FlimsyAxe]

Complete control over everything is too overwhelming. The introduction of terraforming and being able to place furniture outside gives us so much control already. My creative juices are dried up and I'm not even halfway done with my island.

 

[Dunquixote]

As much as I love designing and loved HHD, if we had the option to design their houses and were given as much freedom as we were given in HHD, I feel like I would very easily or quickly get bored or that designing their houses would lose its appeal. One of my complaints about HHD is that with amiibo cards, you’re given no requirements (like x2 fan palms) or themes to follow, no challenge (spend under the budget that villager gives you), so, as much fun I had with the game, there were various points where I ran out of ideas or got a bit bored (still is my favorite 3ds game, though I only had a couple anyways). I was and still am happy with the designs I did, but honestly l, I don’t think a lot of them reflected the villagers’ tastes, hobbies, or personalities well.

With that being said, I want to mention that I visited Boris’s house today I think his house is great but, when I think of someone with the name Boris, I think of someone with a slavic origin so the Egyptian theme seemed a bit odd for him. just mentioning this since i don’t think all the NH homes reflects the villagers well on their own, so what we need is some middle ground to balance what is lacking if that makes any sense.

 

[deerteeth]

This is way longer than it has to be so sorry in advanced for this novel

I have mixed feelings about it, though I prefer that they have their own free will!

On one hand, the only thing that really differentiates the villagers, since they're all reskins of their personality type, is their clothing and décor. I really love walking into Muffy's house for example because it lets her vintagey goth personality shine through, and I think that's really great! It's also very cute when they share clothes. I find that realistic because my friends and I will discuss where we get our clothes so we can share, or we'll borrow things from one another.

On the other, it really stinks when you give them a clothing item or something and they display it, and it totally clashes with the rest of their house. I liked the feature from New Leaf where you could visit their house and buy an item from them to make their house look a little better. I think that was fair, because you had to work for it in a way, since you had to remember to visit them, and possibly buy another item and wait for another visit so you could remove the item you want (like if they had a table you wanted gone, you had to buy the item on top of it first.)
Them sharing clothing can be a bit annoying even though it's cute, because sometimes they look really silly. Fang gave Judy a wifebeater for example and I don't think it suits her.

Even though I have mixed feelings, as I said, I like that they can do their own thing with their house and clothing. I decided this time around I won't care about their interiors or clothing as much and just focus on my village instead! With the ability to make the island beautiful with furniture, patterns, etc., I care less about how my villagers look anyway!

 

[Millysaurusrexjr]

I agree that it's nice to just let villagers be their own selves! I don't worry too much about messing up their houses to be honest. But I still think it would be an awesome feature if they allowed for re-designing/re-decorating villager homes. I really thought that would be in ACNH because of HHD. It's weird that they didn't have more HHD stuff put in to New Horizons

 

[Reginald Fairfield]

I just want Gaston to get rid of the bath towel wrap. Lopez might be wearing a dress now too.

 

[Bluebellie]

I think I would like a little bit more control. I do like that they have different styles and personalities, however there are certain things I would love to change. For example, I have gifted Barold some outfits, and though he does wear them, at times he reverts back to his original outfit ( which is the most hideous thing in the world ). I wish I could permanently set the outfits for him. Same thing with Nan. Though Nan’s original outfit I don’t mind at all, I did gift her once an outfit that I guess she didn’t like. She has never worn it and it’s now sitting permanently inside her house. I wish I could have access to delete that.

I do like the idea of customizing their house interiors just a bit though.

 

[Pyoopi]

It just sucks that there are actions within the game that act as risks, like when one villager asks you to give a gift. You know in hindsight, that will help raise your friendship, but that gift is random and could be a bidet for your little Judy.

It's like the game showcases your mistakes when the villager places clothing in the house or places flowers on the floor.

I don't want full control because that's another burden to carry but I wish the ai were smarter and more personalized with gifts.

 

[An0nn]

It just sucks that there are actions within the game that act as risks, like when one villager asks you to give a gift. You know in hindsight, that will help raise your friendship, but that gift is random and could be a bidet for your little Judy.

It's like the game showcases your mistakes when the villager places clothing in the house or places flowers on the floor.

I don't want full control because that's another burden to carry but I wish the ai were smarter and more personalized with gifts.

Recently Bree apparently waged a one woman war against the other animals on my island and now her closet is full of "peace offerings" like a zap suit and jester costume instead of the cute clothes I carefully picked out for her after cautiously testing each look on Harv's island.

This is why I always turn my villagers down when they ask for bugs or fish. Even though it makes me feel like a jerk.

Don't get me wrong Savannah, I would love to help you aquire that grasshopper! Unfortunately, none of the home decor choices you've made so far have convinced me that you would use it responsibly.

 

[Tinkeringbell]

Often I read online comments from players that they wish to be able to completely re-do their residents' home interiors or get rid of accessories and clothes their islanders already own. I recall one time when a discussion centered around being able to create your own animals with different body parts!

Well, I wouldn't want any of that. Part of the fun in the game for me is in trying to find villagers with nice interiors and looks, and making everything customisable before they even move in would take that away. I guess I can understand the disappointment that comes with moving in a gifted villager from someone else (without knowing it was gifted) that surely prompts some of these requests, but I wouldn't want that kind of control myself.

I do admit I pick my villagers by looking at how they and their interiors look: If I don't like the looks of either, I'll hop to another island or don't invite the camper. I'm a bit less picky when it comes to original clothing: other clothing can be gifted, and I did so with e.g. Hopper. I didn't like the yellow shirt he came with, so I've been gifting him tuxedos and a red anorak jacket.

You can completely redo your villagers' interiors to an extent, it just takes a lot of gifts, some online guides, and patience. I guess some of that is what makes the game fun for me. I have an Antonio that is now displaying a floor seat that doesn't match his interior, trying to think of something to fix that is fun.

I mostly have trouble with the part of the game mechanics where, when someone asks me to deliver a present, I lose control over what I gift a villager. Sure, I can decline the request, but I think it actually counts towards the 'Smile Isle' nook miles goal which I do want to complete at some point... Having an option to make sure your villager won't wear or display whatever they are gifted from anyone that's not me would help with that.

The part about using different body parts... ehhh. I have seen villagers where I definitely thought "I could love you, if only your facial expression/eyes were different!". But if you could just create your own villagers with different body parts, I think they'd quickly lose most of the charm that comes with finally finding a villager that has looks you love.

 

[Livia]

I would be happy if Isabelle’s function for removing custom designs from villagers actually worked. It doesn’t work at all for hats.

 

[N a t]

I don't feel like I have to have control nor do I need a lot or control. My biggest issue personally with the lack of control over the game is stupid stuff really. I like to immerse myself in these games. Sometimes I wanna feel like I'm a part of them because they are my escape from reality when life gets tough. One of my biggest pet peeves is when my villagers place objects like a bug cage or a chess set on a stove. To me it's breaking immersion TOO much and drives me crazy. It also bugs me when a villager places an item backwards. Like a computer or a television. Like, why? How are you going to use this!? My only beef with accessories tends to come from accessories being worn oddly or in bad places, like a mask on the back of a villagers head which I guess isn't too immersion breaking but it is odd lol. Also some outfits are just not to my taste which is why I prefer my villagers to start out original but I give them what I think they would look nice in, and unfortunately my tastes differ from other people's so I tend to only adopt original villagers or use amiibo cards. Also low key bugs me when a villager has a wallpaper that completely removes the windows in their house, but if the wallpaper itself features windows then I guess it's okay? I'm just really weird and I don't know if I have an issue with some sort of OCD or just having control over things but my game immersion is important to me. If everyone else plays differently from the way I do though, I could care less. Do what makes you happy! I'll do what makes me happy.

 

[niko@kamogawa]

Maybe Nintendo can incorporate a system that allows you to "convince" or "sway" your villagers into performing an action based on your friendship level. (In that way, it would look like you aren't controlling them.)

For example, I can give Felicity a fashion advice such as not to wear a specific type of clothing.

 

[N a t]

I didn't wanna edit my post because I'll lose TBT but to add on to what I said, I mean to say that I'm okay with the fact that we all play differently and feel differently about the game. So long as no one gets hurt or it isn't taken to extremities. While I do want to feel like my villagers are autonomous and their own individuals, I still want them to act realistically enough for me, that's the only reason why I feel like I have to be careful when gifting them stuff, but then again, I shouldn't forget that it's all just a game and I haven't forgotten yet, so having that unreal wackiness is also important. I respect ya'lls opinions on control in the game. I don't wanna change every aspect, just keeping it real

 

[k e r f u f f l e]

Personally, I agree with you. Without 100% control over your villagers or even your island, the game forces you to be more creative to make things work. Not only this, but I like participating in the virtual world rather than being the center of it. The game would be so boring if it was the opposite!

As for the customization aspect of control, I'm happy with what Nintendo has given us now.